THE RICH KINSMAN. 



THE HISTORY OP 



Itttlf 1|^ HffaHtns 



BY 

STEPHEN H. TYNG, D.D., 

,E0TOB OF BT. GKOKGE's OHUEOH, NK-W TOBX. 



NEW YORK: 

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 

No. 285 BROADWAY. 



1855. 







Entkbkd, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, 

BY STEPHEN H. TYNG, 

In the Clerk's Office for the Southern District of New York. 



8TZRKOT7PED BT 

THOMAS B. SMITH, 
216 WUliam SU, N. Y 



PRINTBD BT 

R. CRAIGHEAD. 
53 Veeey St. N. Y. 





/^:_::- 


' 


f^ , 






Introduction 


. . 5 


I.— Book of Kuth 


. . 9 


II.— The Wandeeees 


. 29 


III.— The AwAKENTNa 


. . 54 


IV.— The PsoMisiNa Commencement 


. . 80 


V. — The Paintul Sepaeation . 


. 102 


VI.— True Decision 


. . 125 


VII.— The Faithful Choice 


. 151 


VIII.— The Backslidee's Keturn . 


. 182 


IX.— The YouNa Conveet .... 


. 205 


X.— The Eich Kinsman .... 


. 225 


XI.— The Gleanee . . . . . 


. . 244 


XII.— The Welcome Keception . 


. 269 


XIII. — The Gracious Approbation 


. 292 


XIV.— The Happy Discovery .... 


. . 816 


XV.— The Place of Eest .... 


. 836 


XVI.— The FiRST-FRurrs or Grace . 


. 356 


XVII.— KEDEMr»noN Proposed 


. . 378 


XVIII.— Kedemption Accomplished . 


. . 896 


XIX.— Kedemption Applied .... 


. 411 



IntraHrtiou. 

The author presents tMs work in the hope 
that it will be found adapted to enlighten the 
minds of the young in some of the great sub- 
jects of Scriptural Instruction. It comprises a 
course of lectures delivered to the youth of his 
congregation on the afternoons of the Lord's day. 
Several such courses, upon various biographies of 
the Scripture, and upon other portions of Scripture, 
applicable as useful illustrations of Christian truth 
and Christian duty, he has also given to his youth- 
ful hearers. It has been the great object of all these 
to engage and interest the minds of the young 
in the study of the Holy Scriptures. Whether 
the publication of this one course will be consid- 
ered as so likely to be useful as to warrant the 
preparation for similar publication of either of the 
other courses referred to, will be decided by the 



L, 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

present experiment. The author has been long 
impressed with the feeling that neither commen- 
taries nor sermons have yet made that simple 
and practical use of the fullness of Scripture truth 
for which it is adapted — perhaps he might say for 
which it is designed. The young mind certainly 
can be interested in the Word of God as a book 
full of attraction as well as full of truth. Wlio- 
ever can be made in any degree the instrument 
of leading to this result by bringing out to view 
the real attractions of the Scripture, confers so 
far an invaluable benefit upon others. Nothing 
is more desirable at the present time than a 
complete commentary uj)on the Bible, adapted to 
such an end — a commentary that shoidd avoid 
the deep ruts of mere traditional exposition, and 
be designed to exhibit the fullness of truth and 
beauty which in a new path remain yet to be 
explored and displayed. Such a commentary for 
our Sunday-schools would be a priceless gift. To 
prepare it, however, wnll require equal acquaintance 
with the minds and wants of the young, and with 
the deep and exhaustless treasures of the Word of 
God. The author does not pretend to the full 



INTRODUCTION. VU 

possession of either of such attainments, however 
truly he appreciates their importance and worth. 
But may not others be induced to enter upon 
this field of untried usefulness? May not the 
ministry be generally led to direct their niinds 
and study more to the great purpose of preparing 
Scriptural attractions as well as Scriptural instruc- 
tion for the young? If the present work should 
be of no more general advantage, the author is 
perfectly sure that to his own beloved flock of 
youthful hearers it will be acceptable, and will 
by them be prized. To them, therefore, at least, 
he commits it without fear, and with the affec- 
tionate prayer for a Divine blessing upon its pre- 
cious truths among them all. 

S. H. T. 

St. Geokge's Eeotokt, 

New York, March 1, 1855. 



I HAVE always considered this one of tlie 
most interesting and instructive books of tlie 
Old Testament. It is full of precious spirit- 
ual instruction. It preaches a glorious 
Saviour for the lost sinner. It describes the 
sorrows of the wanderer from God. It shows 
the blessedness of the sinner's return to 
Christ ; the riches and bounty of the Great 
Eedeemer ; and the fullness of love and mercy 
which the pardoned rebel finds in him. All 
these blessed truths are exhibited in the his- 
tory of a family of Israelites, who strayed to 
the land of Moab, and of a lovely youthful 
convert from idolatry, who becomes united to 
them, and is thus led to a rich kinsman, 



10 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

before unknown to her, and in whom she 
finds a bountiful and faithful Kedeemer. 

We have the story of her return from idol- 
atiy to the living God, of her first acquaint- 
ance \vith this rich kinsman, of her union 
with him in marriage, of her peaceful and 
happy dwelling with him, of the excellence 
of her own character, and of his generous 
liberality towards her. \^In all this, we have a 
simple and faithful preaching of the Lord 
Jesus Christ to us, under the most interest- 
ing and attractive shape. He is our ap- 
pointed Kinsman and Kedeemer, who has 
bought and ransomed us with the rich price 
of his own blood. ^ And, when we are brought 
back to him, from our wandering in sin, by 
the converting power of his o\\ti Spirit, we 
enjoy the fullness of his pardoning love, and 
he becomes united to us in an everlasting 
covenant never to be forgotten. This is the 
view which I would give you of The Book 
OF Ruth. 

Ruth was in herself a beautiful example 






THE BOOK OF RUTH. 11 

of virtue and personal excellence^ in every 
different station in which she was placed. 
We see her a homeless wanderer, and we see 
her sheltered in a happy home ; we see her 
in poverty, and we see her in wealth ; we see 
her neglected, and we see her caressed. But 
we see her at all times, and in all stations, 
the same faithful and beautiful illustration 
of female loveliness, purity, and benevolence. 
She shines before us, a remarkable instance 
of the power of Divine grace. It was this 
alone which renewed her heart, and made 
her really a daughter of the Lord Almighty. 
She became a temple of the Holy Ghost, 
and was thus made able to glorify God in 
her body, and her spirit, which were his. 

She was an interesting example of the 
happiness which flows from a true and faith- 
ful obedience of God. True religion was to 
her the source of every earthly as well as of 
every heavenly joy. Karely is a character so 
attractive and lovely in itself, seen in the 
sinful family of man. And under this aspect. 



12 THE RICH KINSMAN 

her history is well worthy of the study of the 
young. You see here the beauty of true 
piety iu the youthful female character. Of 
one instance of such piety the eminent 
Bishop Griswold says, in a record of his 
journal, " She is a sensible young woman, 
possessed of beauty, and of all that is ami- 
able in nature and by education ; truly 
pious ; her whole soul devoted to her Saviour. 
She reminds me of the celestial inhabitants ; 
she seems but ^ a little lower than the an- 
gels.' What mortal state can imagination 
portray so nearly resembling that of those 
pure intelligences, as the character and life 
of a pious young female ?" 

But let us not forget she was made thus 
attractive by the Holy Spirit, that Blessed 
Sanctifier whom the Saviour gives to all 
the people of God. He is the guide and 
teacher of all who love God. He taught 
the prophets and inspired holy men to write 
the Scriptures. And he renewed and sanc- 
tified the hearts of all who truly believed 



THE BOOK OF KUTH. 13 

God's word, in ancient times as well as in 
our day. It was lie who taught Kuth to 
believe in a promised Saviour, and enabled 
her to choose and to obey his commands ; 
and who thus gave her the beautiful orna- 
ment of a meek and heavenly temper. This 
makes her character an example to the young 
members of the Saviour's flock in every age, 
because the same Spirit offers to bless and 
sanctify all who will receive him. How 
happy would it be, for every daughter of the 
church, to follow the same Lord, under the 
teaching of the same Divine Spirit ! 
-^ The history of Kuth is also a very instruct- 
ive instance of the gracious Providence of 
God over all who truly seek him. We see 
her giving up all her own relations, her native 
land, and the idolatry of her fathers, to seek 
the worship, and the service of the God of 
Israel. But she loses nothing. She finds 
her happy recompense, under the shadow of 
his wings in whom she had come to put her 
trust. She not only receives the rich spirit- 



14 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ual blessings which are the gift of God to 
those who seek him, but she has also all 
other things added to her under his gracioufl 
care. ^^ Godliness is profitable unto all 
things, having the promise of the life that 
now is, and of that which is to come." This 
is a very valuable example to us, whether we 
think of her own conduct in obedience to 
God, or of the goodness and love of God 
towards her. The Holy Spirit gave us this 
book to be a witness to us, that God will 
never fail, nor forsake, those who put their 
trust in him. Every child of God may here 
learn, never to doubt, or to distrust, that 
gracious Saviour who has promised to be the 
everlasting friend of all who seek and love 
him. Great will be the blessing to you, if 
you shall thus be taught more truly to seek 
and to trust in Jesus, and to seek your shel^. 
ter under the shadow of his wing. 

The history of Ruth's personal connection 
with our blessed Lord, in his human nature, 
is also quite worthy of your notice. She and 



THE BOOK OF EUTH. 15 

Kahab were the only two Gentiles in tlie 
earthly genealogy of our Lord. He was 
pleased to take the nature of man in the 
family which descended from them. He was 
thus '^ not the God of the Jews only, but also 
of the Gentiles." Kuth, though a native of 
Moabj was one of the chosen ancestors of the 
honored line of David. And thus Gentile 
blood was mingled in that exalted family, 
with the blood of Israel. Thus she became 
personally connected with the Kedeemer of 
men. From her, " as concerning the flesh, 
Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for 
ever." What a special interest does this give 
to her character and history for us ! All our 
hopes and joys are resting upon the real 
incarnation and manhood of this glorious and 
Divine Saviour ; and it is most interesting to 
us, to trace back the connection of his lowly 
humanity, to this faithful child of God, who 
came from the wilds of Moab, to seek the 
truth and the goodness of the Lord God of 
Israel. 



16 THE RICH KIN SM AX. 

But there is much more than all this in 
the history of Ruth. It was given to us by 
the Huly Spirit to preach a Saviour's love. 
The Holy Spirit glorifies our Lord Jesufl 
Christ, by taking of the things which are his, 
and showing them unto men. '^ He does this 
very plainly and beautifully in the history of 
Ruth. He tells us here very much of Christ ; 
much of the kingdom of his grace, as well as 
of the government of his Providence. He 
displays the riches of his redeeming love, in a 
very attractive manner ; and in some very 
important and instructive illustrations. He 
preaches to us the fullness of that pardoning 
mercy, which is exercised by the Son of God, 
who was manifest in the flesh, that he might 
be the kinsman and husband of perishing 
sinners ; and who, when he had redeemed 
them by his death, betrothed them unto him- 
self, and made them to become the Bride, 
the Lamb's wife. He shows us here the way 
in which the Saviour brings wandering sin- 
ners back to himself, receives them into his 



THE BOOK OF EUTH. 17 

family^ feeds them with the fulhiess of his 
bounty, exalts them into an everlasting union 
with himself, gives them a name and a record 
among the generations of his children, and 
teaches them to praise and glorify him for 
ever. 

All these precious lessons of Gospel truth 
the Holy Spirit teaches us, in the history 
of this youthful Moabitess. And he thus 
preaches the Gospel here in a very clear and 
beautiful way. And if the same Spirit shall 
graciously teach you also, you may be led to 
learn here the love of Christ for yourselves, 
your own need of such a Saviour, and the 
riches of his wisdom and grace in your salva- 
tion. This is the blessed and all-important 
purpose for which I wish you to study the 
history of Kuth. 

But this blessed instruction is not peculiar 
to the Book of Euth. It is to be found 
every where in the Scriptures of the Old Tes- 
tament. They are full of histories which are 
intended to lead your minds and hearts to the 



18 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

same gracious and holy Saviour. They all 
testify of Christ, and of that eternal life 
which is to be found in him alone. It must 
ever be your aim and effort to gain a knowl- 
edge of the Sa\^our from them all. To 
obtain this knowledge of Jesus, under the 
teaching of the Holy Spirit is worth all the 
study it may cost you, and all the time it 
may require. Seek for this as an invaluable 
blessing. Throughout your whole Bible try 
to find the Saviour speaking to you. He is 
every where in it. The same Spirit has writ- 
ten it all. And in ever\" part of it he waits 
to teach you the same Gospel, and to explain 
to you the same salvation. The more ear- 
nestly you study the sacred Word, praying to 
him to enlighten and teach you, the more 
clearly will you see this one subject constant- 
ly before you. 

It is this " teaching and preaching Jesus 
Christ," which makes the Bible so precious to 
the people of God, in every generation, and 
in every land. They read of their Beloved 



THE BOOK OF RUTH. 19 

Lord in every part of it, and " to them that 
beliere, he is precious." If you shall really 
find a Saviour there, it will be equally at- 
tractive and precious to you. Then seek him 
there. Seek the guidance of his Spirit, that 
you may find him. Pray for Divine teaching, 
" the unction of the Holy One.''^ When you 
find him, embrace him with delight, as your 
portion for ever. Thus the patriarchs and 
prophets believed in him. Thus Kuth be- 
lieved in him. Thus all the ancient saints 
believed in him. They rejoiced in looking 
forward to his day of grace and glory. Be 
ye followers of them, who, through faith and 
patience, obtained the promises. Kejoice to 
be united with them in the same precious 
promises, the same steadfast faith, the same 
blessed hope. 

The Scriptures of the Old Testament are 
a rich mine. The blessed Saviour is the 
precious gold which is hidden within it. 
How earnestly ought we to search for this 
pure gold, more precious than the gold of 



20 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

Ophir. Sometimes it lies very near the sur- 
face. As thev speak of earthly mines, it 
'^ crops out" in beautiful exhibitions of its 
worth, which every traveler may see. Some- 
times it lies far deeper, and requires much 
sldU in discovering it, and much persevering 
meditation and study to obtain and separate 
it. But the gold is always really in the 
mine. And it will always prove really worth 
every effort which you may make to get it. 
If you gain a real living interest in the glori- 
ous Saviour, and enjoy the peace and hope 
which he imparts, you will feel rewarded a 
thousand-fold, for all the toil his service costs. 
But never be satisfied with your study of the 
Bible, until you reaUy understand and enjoy 
this word of life. 

Many years ago I visited a friend living in 
the valley of "Wyoming, on the Susquehanna 
river. His beautiful farm extended back 
from the river into the hills which bound the 
valley. In examining his ground among the 
hills, far back from the river, he discovered 



THE BOOK OF EUTH. 21 

the cropping out of coal upon the hill-side. 
He knew immediately that there was a mine 
beneath. But instead of digging just where 
he saw the coal, his scientific skill led him to 
calculate " the dip" of the mine ; that is, its 
inchnation or slope. Then he went down to 
the edge of the river, and began to dig a 
canal for boats, from the river back to the 
hills. Ignorant men wondered at such 
strange labor. They almost thought him in- 
sane. Why should a man dig a canal from 
the river to stop at the foot of an impassable 
mountain ? But he persevered in his work 
without explaining his design. And, when he 
had finished his plan, and they saw his work 
completed, the worth of his science and skill 
appeared, and they were glad to acknowledge 
it. His canal stopped at the face of a beau- 
tiful vein of coal which dipped toward the 
river. He could thus take out his coal with 
boats in the very bosom of his mine, while all 
the water from the mine drained into the 
canal, and left his coal dry. The same skill- 



22 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ful plan found the coal, drained the mine, 
and opened his coal to an easy transportation 
for sale. 

The Old Testament is a rich mine of Gos- 
pel truth. The Gospel lies hidden there in 
all its fullness and worth. The Saviour is to 
be found under all the types and histojies 
which are there contained. It is your privi- 
lege to search these Scriptures for that 
knowledge of your Saviour which is eternal 
life. These types and histories are like pic- 
tures of our blessed Lord, in the different 
parts of the work of his redemption for man, 
drawn by the Holy Spirit for man's instruc- 
tion. The Old Testament is full of them, 
and thus full of the knowledge of Christ. 
that I could persuade my young friends to 
search for this knowledge ; to feel and to say, 
*' How I love Thy word ! it is dearer to me 
than thousands of gold and silver." Never be 
contented with your study of any part of 
the Holy Scriptures, until you find yourself 
growing under its instruction, in the knowl- 



THE BOOK OF RUTH. 23 

edge and love of your Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. 

The Holy Scriptures are a deep, pure sea. 
The Saviour is the pearl of great price which 
lies at the bottom of the deep. Perhaps 
many may search there and not find it. In 
some particular effort you may for a time 
search in vain. But if you persevere in your 
search, you will surely find at last the pearl 
you seek. And then it will repay you for all 
your toil. You will cheerfully sell all that 
you have to buy it. All that you can desire 
is not to be compared to it. 

" The world its fancied pearl may crave, 
'Tis not the pearl for me, 
'Twill dim its lustre in the grave, 

'Twill perish in the sea. 
But there 's a pearl of price untold, 
That never can he bought with gold. 
The sinking soul 'twill save : 
0, that's the pearl for me." 

This is the pearl I would have you find in 
the history of Kuth. What can it teach me 
of Christ ? What will it show me of the 



24 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

way of his salvation, or of the blessings and 
privileges which he bestows upon his people ? 
This is the great object of our study here. I 
might justly say, this is the only really great 
and important object of life itself. We never 
really know how to live until we can say, 
" for me to live is Christ." Wise and happy 
will you be to part with every thing beside, if 
you may win him as your portion, your ever- 
lasting inheritance. 

This pearl here lies before you in the 
clearest sea. This pure gold is here scattered 
before you in every part of the field. You may 
gather durable riches here -with great delight, 
with little labor, and without weariness in 
the efibrt. If the Holy Spirit be pleased to 
teach you, you will see the marks of the Lord 
Jesus often before you, as you think on that 
which he has been pleased to write for you 
here. that he may write it all on the Hv- 
ing tables of your -hearts, and give you of the 
hidden treasures of his grace, which are here 
laid up ! Then will your study of this inter- 



THE BOOK OF RUTH. 25 

esting book be bappy and useful. Tbe Sa- 
viour will come to dwell with you. You will 
find your refuge and sbelter with him. It 
will help to prepare you to dwell with him in 
the kingdom of his glory. It wiU teach you 
to join in that heavenly song which all the 
justified children of his grace sing for ever 
unto him. Happy, happy will you be, to 
make your choice like Euth's, and like her to 
find an everlasting home in your Great Kins- 
man's heavenly habitation. 



' Let Pleasure cliant her syren song 1 

'Tis not the song for me ; 
To weeping it will turn ere long, 

For this is Heaven's decree. 
But there's a song the ransom' d sing, 
To Jesus, their exalted King, 

With joyful heart and tongue : 
O that's the song for me." 



Ah, my dear young friends, try to learn 
that heavenly song with all the redeemed of 
God. Choose your part and portion in Christ, 
that his Spirit may teach you his truth, to 
love his service, to follow his commands, and 
2 



26 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

to walk in his steps. This will he a constant 
education for that glorified state, and an in- 
creasing acquaintance with its everlasting 
joys, where, with Ruth the Moabitess, and 
all the chosen family of God, you shall have 
your inheritance for ever. ^ 

There is no more important instrument for 
the attainment of this end, than your habit- 
ual and earnest study of the Word of God. 
Try to write its truths upon your memory, 
and im]orint its principles upon your hearts. 
Let no day of life pass without the sincere 
study of some portion of this Divine revela- 
tion from God to man. Neglect no part of 
it. Every word of God is good. The word 
of the Lord is perfect. Let it convert your 
souls. If any portion seems difficult or bar- 
ren, it -^^11 only require the more earnest and 
careful thought. As your years go by, its 
habitual study will open new pleasures, and 
give new dehghts. Still brighter light will 
shine upon its pages. Still clearer and deep- 
er truth will be laid open before your view. 



THE BOOK OF EUTH. 27 

learn to love your Bible more. It will be 
your inseparable treasure. You may carry it 
wherever you go. You may enjoy it wher- 
ever you are. You may feed upon it in 
health, and it will be your consolation in 
sickness. Its blessed instructions will en- 
lighten your minds, and strengthen your 
hearts for every study and duty in life. Its 
precious words of life will still dwell in your 
memory, and cheer your hopes, in the last 
hours of your earthly day. When every 
thing outward has faded away, these blessed 
promises and truths will shine around you, 
like stars in midnight darkness, and make 
you feel never less alone than when you seem 
to have been cut off from all whom you have 
known and loved on earth. 

Come, then, my dear young friends, let us 
search this heavenly mine, in the beautiful 
vein which the story of Kuth opens to our 
view, and there try to find and love the gra- 
cious Saviour whom Kuth so really found and 
so truly loved. Let us go into the clear 



28 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

depths of this heavenly sea, and try to obtain 
the blessed pearl of price for which Ruth 
counted ever^ thing else but loss. Then will 
you say, from the abiding enjoyment of your 
own hearts, "all the things that may be 
desired are not to be compared to this. 
Dearer to us than thousands of gold and 
silver, yea, than life itself, is that Divine 
Redeemer whom we have chosen for om^selves, 
as all our righteousness and our heritage for 



II. 



Now it came to pass in the days when the Judges ruled, that there 
was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem Judah 
went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, and his wife, and his two 
sons. And the name of the man was Elimelech, and the name of his 
wife Naomi, and the name of his two sons Mahlon and Chilion, Ephra- 
thites of Bethlehem Judah. And they came into the country of Moab, 
and continued there. And Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died ; and 
she was left, and her two sons. And they took them wives of the 
women of Moab ; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of 
the other was Euth ; and they dwelled there about ten years. And 
Mahlon and Chilion died, also, both of them ; and the woman was 
left of her husband and her two sons." — Kuth, i. 1-5. 



Thus the history of Kuth begins with a 
story of wanderers from God. It is a sad, 
but not a strange commencement. A family 
of Israelites are dwelling together in their 
native land, and the first knowledge we have 
of their particular history, is the knowledge 
of their folly. They went from the land 



30 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

of Israel, to sojourn in the country of 
Moab. 

^ Why did they wander, and thus leave the 
home of their fathers ? The answer given is, 
^' there was a famine in the land." God had 
sent upon them a temporary trouble, and 
they fled from it. But when God chastens 
us in his wisdom, our duty is to yield with 
contentment and submission. We should 
hear the rod, and Him who hath appointed it. 
When we patiently yield to his merciful 
chastisements, they become our most precious 
blessings. For the present they are not joy- 
ous, but grievous. But they produce for us 
the peaceable fruits of righteousness in the 
end, if we are properly exercised thereby. 
But trouble produced no peaceable fruits to 
the family with whose story this book begins. 
Instead of contentment, submission, and 
more affectionate obedience, we see a spirit 
of discontent and repining, which is allowed 
to drive them from their home into a strange 
land. 



THE WANDEREKS. 31 

" There was a famine in the land," and 
they fled from it. Temporary suffering made 
their home for a little while uncomfortable, 
and they could not patiently endure the will 
of Grod. It was their own land. It was their 
father's land. It was the Lord's land. Their 
family and friends were there. But there 
was a season of famine there, and therefore 
they would fly to some other land. But why 
should they fly .^ The next season might be 
better, and more than repay them for the 
losses of the present. The famine might fol- 
low them to the land whither they went, and 
make their sufferings greater there than at 
home. When Socrates was urged by his 
friends to escape from the prison where he 
was condemned to die, he answered them, 
'^ Tell me of a land where men do not die, 
and I will escape to that." How much better 
might this family have found a quiet submis- 
sion to the will of God ! But no — a dead fly 
spoils the ointment of the apothecary. A 
single trouble makes men forget a thousand 



32 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

blessings. A solitary want will blot out the 
grateful memory of innumerable comforts. 
*' There is a famine in the land/' and they 
have determined to remove. 

What an illustration this is, of sinful, fool- 
ish man ! Adam had all the garden of Eden. 
He might freely eat of every tree of the gar- 
den. There was enough, and more than 
enough to make him entirely satisfied and 
happy. But there was one prohibition, a 
single restraint, one tree of which he must 
not eat. And for this how easily he was 
tempted to feel that there was a famine in 
the land ! An injustice was done to him, he 
thought, and he must not yield to such an 
arbitrary restraint. Discontented, rebellious, 
repining thoughts were stirred up in his mind 
toward God. And he was persuaded to eat, 
though God had said '' thou shalt not eat." 
One single restraint made him a voluntary 
wanderer from God. ^ 

How easUy have all who have descended 
from him rebelled and wandered since ! In- 



L. 



THE WANDERERS. 38 

stead of submitting, enduring, loving, hoping 
still, when God is pleased to restrain and cor- 
rect us, we constantly try to run from his con- 
trol ; we refuse to have him to reign over us. 
Like wandering birds driven from their nest. 
Like wandering stars rushing into darkness. 
Like waves of the sea, driven of the wind, 
and tossed. Thus we wander in sin, we know 
not where, we know not to what. Forsaking 
the fountain of living waters, we hew out to 
ourselves broken cisterns, that can hold no 
water. But can we ever find happiness in 
running away from God 7 Is there any hap- 
piness but in a cheerful, filial submission to 
God.? 

See where this wandering from God begins 
— ^in a spirit of rebellion and discontent. 
be ye watchful, there. Be ready, my dear 
young friends, to hear and to do the will of 
God. In the midst of your trials remember 
his mercies. When there seems to be a fam- 
ine in your land call to mind the loving-kind- 
ness of the Lord. The more he chastens you, 
2* 



34 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

cling to him tlie more closely. Try to live 
still more completely at his gracious feet, and 
in an affectionate dependence on his promised 
presence and aid. Let him be your hiding 
place and shield ; and be still, and know that 
he is God. 

But who were these wanderers whose story 
we have before us ? They were a family of 
Israelites, of professed believers in the Word 
of God. There is no aspect of sin more pain- 
ful than that in which it appears connected 
with the privileges of men. Never does sin 
seem to be more dreadful than when man's 
ingratitude is contrasted with God's mercies. 
How often the gracious Lord appeals to men 
on this ground ! " What could have been 
done more to my vineyard, that I have not 
done in it ? Wherefore when I looked that 
it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth 
wild grapes ?" " 0, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
which killest the prophets, and stonest them 
that are sent unto thee, how often would I 
have gathered thy children together, as a hen 



THE WANDEREKS. 35 

doth gather her brood under her wings, and 
ye would not \" It is sad enough to see any 
of the children of men buried in sin. But to 
see children who have been brought up in the 
sanctuary, children of pious parentage, chil- 
dren for whom faith, and piety, and prayer 
have watched, children whose early youth has 
been dedicated to God, and nurtured in his 
church ; to see these go astray, and throw off 
all the restraints which have been so merci- 
fully spread around them ; to see them rush 
into sin, away from God, away from hope, 
away from eternal life — this is the saddest 
sight which earth presents to a Christian's 
mind. Well may a pious father cry out with 
David, ^' Absalom, my son, my son V 
Well may a godly mother weep like Kachel 
over children who are dead in sin ; or ex- 
claim, like the mother of Lemuel, " What, 
my son ! and what, the son of my vows V' 
over beloved children like these, wandering 
off from God, and holiness, to sin, and ruin, 
and despair ! 



36 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

How exalted in blessings was the man who 
first wandered from God ! Every comfort for 
his body and his soul was his. God walked 
with him in the garden, and delighted in the 
work of his hands. And yet man rebelled 
and became an outcast. And is not every 
wanderer from God richly endowed with di- 
vine mercies ? You are never straitened in 
God. You have all things and abound in 
him. He is rich in his mercy to you all. 
Why should you wander ? How mournful is 
that di\^ne exclamation, "I have nourished 
and brought up children, and they have re- 
belled against me !" "A son honoreth his 
father, and a servant his master. If then I 
be a father, where is mine honor ? And if I 
be a- master, where is my fear ?" 

This wandering in o\ir story was wholly 
unnecessary. These Israelites were not poor 
and perishing. They '' went out full." Their 
wandering was therefore wilful, and this made 
it the more rebellious and guilty. But is not 
all wandering from God unnecessary ? Why 



THE WANDEREES. 37 

need we ever go astray from him ? It will 
be always a solemn charge against us, " they 
went out full." It is the wandering which 
makes us empty. The poor prodigal went 
out full. "Father," said he, "give me the 
portion of goods that falleth to me." " And 
the father divided unto them his living." Is 
it not so with us all .? Are we not dwelling 
in the midst of Divine mercies from the day 
we are born ? If we go away from God, our 
own heedlessness or choice is the fountain 
of our guilt and sorrow. Why need we 
wander ? 

Some years since, a young man entered 
alone into the catacombs of Kome. He tied 
a thread at the entrance, and kept the ball in 
his hand ; and though he had no guide in 
the dark and intricate passages, he took with 
him a torch, and wandered on, feeling no 
fear. Far under ground, he wandered about 
these dark ways, and examined with delight 
the monuments and inscriptions which abound- 
ed on every side. He stopped to copy many 



38 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

of these inscriptions in his book. But in 
copying one he accidentally put out his torch, 
and lost his thread. Ah, there he was, in 
midnight darkness, and entirely alone. He 
shouted aloud, but there was none to hear. 
He groped about on the ground to find his 
thread, but in vain. He wandered around 
the mazes of these winding passages, to find 
his way back to the entrance, but it was im- 
possible. In fear, distress, and weariness, at 
last he fell down and fainted away. In his 
unconscious agony he clenched the earth with 
his hand, and, when he came to himself, he 
found his thread within it. He sprang up 
with delight. He followed back his guiding 
thread. He stopped to look at nothing by 
the way. Soon he saw the dim light, and 
came to the entrance of the catacomb, and to 
the outward air again, Wearied, and grate- 
ful for his life restored, he knelt upon the 
ground, and gave thanks to his merciful, pre- 
serving God. 

He lost his thread — ^he lost his light— aod 



THE WANDERERS. 39 

the journey, which, was safe and happy before, 
is wretched and despairing now. 

" Brave and alone lie cherishes his light, 
And trusts his clew will guide him hack aright. 
Onward he goes, nor takes a note of time, 
Impelled, enchanted in this dismal clime. 
Thrilling with awe, but yet untouched by fear, 
He passes on, from dreary unto drear ; 
The crypts diverge, the labyrinths are crossed, 
He will return, — alas ! his clew is lost. 

He gropes, but gropes in vain,- 
Eecedes, advances, and turns back again. 
A shivering fear, a downright terror next. 
Seizes his soul, and he is sore perplexed ! 
He halts, he nerves, he thinks he rushes on, 
But only finds that issue there is none. 
But hark I a step ! alas, no step is there 1 
But see ! a glimmering light ! O foul despair ! 
No ray pervades this darkness grim and rare. 
He staggers, reels, and falls, and falling prone, 
Grapples the ground where he must die alone. 
But in that fall touches his outstretched hand 
That precious clew the labyrinth can command, 
Long lost, but now regained ! 
And up he rises, quick, but cautious grown. 
He threads the mazes by that string alone : 
Comes into light, and feels the fanning breeze. 
Sees the bright stars, and drops upon his knees. 
His first free breath is uttered in a prayer, ' 

Such as none say who have not known despair ; 
And never had the earth such rich perfume, 
As when from him it chased the odor of the tomb." 

Your guiding thread and light are the 



40 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

Word and Spirit of God. The one is put 
into your hands to teach you the love of 
Christ, and the way to life eternal. By it, 
the Blessed Spirit would keep you from wan- 
dering, and lead you to serve and honor your 
glorious Lord. If you lose it amidst the dark 
passages of a sinful world, it is possihle that 
you may recover it again. If you wander 
from its directions it is possible you may he 
brought back again. But why will you try 
the hazardous experiment ? Why need you 
lose your thread at all ? Why should you 
not bind it to the cradle of your childhood, 
and then hold it and keep it all the way 
through life ? Why may you not hide this 
blessed Word in your hearts, from your ear- 
liest youth, and never allow it to be plucked 
from you ? Why need you stray in sinful 
rebellion when God has so richly furnished 
you with the blessings of his grace, and per- 
mitted you to come behind in no gift ? You 
can never excuse your sinful wanderings, as 
if they were not to be avoided. no ! You 



THE WANDERERS. 41 

grieve the Holy Spirit ; you do always resist 
tlie Holy Ghost. You despise his love. You 
quench his blessed influences upon your 
hearts, in every wandering from God. He 
cries after you in his Holy Word, " Why will 
ye die T' He warns you against all your 
sinful carelessness and disobedience. " What 
will ye do in the end thereof, for the end of 
these things is death ?'" 

From whence did these Israelites wander ? 
It was from the Lord's own land, Immanuers 
land. It was from the whole company of his 
people. It was from the midst of the privi- 
leges of Divine revelation. It was from 
Bethlehem, "the house of bread." Beth- 
lehem was a fertile and productive spot. In 
its fields Boaz gathered his abundant har- 
vests. In its valleys David tended his father's 
flock. Within its gates a valued spring sent 
forth its refreshing stream. But Bethlehem 
had a higher glory. It was the appointed 
birthplace of the Saviour of Israel. Out of 
Bethlehem He was to coine who was to be the 



42 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

Kuler of the people of God for ever, whose 
goings forth were from everlasting. In Beth- 
lehem He was born, who is the real " bread 
of God" which giveth life to the world. How 
many blessed thoughts and privileges center 
around our remembrance of Bethlehem ! 
And it was from Bethlehem that this discon- 
tented family wandered, not knowing whither 
they went. It was a hasty, foolish wandering 
from a happy home. 

"We will not call every journey a wander- 
ing. It depends upon whence we came, and 
whither we go, and under whose direction we 
move. Abraham journeyed from Chaldea to 
Canaan. But lie was no wanderer. God 
guided and preserved him, and every step 
was taken in obedience to Divine command. 
Jacob went down from Canaan to Egypt. 
But this was no wandering. God directed 
him, and sent his beloved Joseph before him, 
to make provision for him. Israel came 
through the wilderness to Canaan again. 
But even here they were no wanderers. The 



THE WANDEKEKS. 43 

Lord went before them in a pillar of cloud 
and fire, to guide and protect them. These 
were not wanderings. But Jonah wandered. 
When God sent him to Nineveh, he fled to 
Tarshish. And God arrested him in the 
deep, and brought him back. Manasseh 
wandered. And he was taken in the thorns, 
and bound with fetters, till, in the day of his 
affliction, he sought the Lord, and was for- 
given. Demas wandered. From a love of 
this present world, he forsook his master, and 
returned no more. Judas wandered. And 
how fearful was his end, when he went to his 
own place ! 

This is the wandering of which we have to 
speak. It is a wandering from God, from his 
Spirit, from his Word, from his Church. It 
is a wandering from that blessed Gospel 
which preaches a Saviour for sinners, which 
opens and provides a house of bread, and a 
perfect shelter in him for the needy and the 
perishing. Thus do multitudes wander, liv- 
ing in sin, without God, and without hope. 



44 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

But why need they wander ? Are they not 
all bought with a price ? Are they not all 
redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, the 
Lamb without spot ? Can any of them say, 
" The door of mercy was not opened to me ?" 
Dare they say, there is no propitiation for 
their sins ? no way for them to love or serve 
God ? None can say so with truth. Beth- 
lehem is still open for you all. The Saviour 
still entreats you. His salvation is still freely 
offered to you. This is true of you all. 
Whosoever goes astray from God, voluntarily 
leaves the salvation which has been pro- 
vided for him, and makes it his condemnation 
that he has loved darkness rather than light, 
because his ways are evil. Of every uncon- 
verted sinner it must be said, that he is a 
voluntary wanderer from God. 

But there are many wanderers from God in 
a very peculiar sense. They go from the very 
midst of his family, from Bethlehem itself, 
where Jesus is. They were bom in his 
church. They were early dedicated to him in 



THE WANDEREKS. 45 

his holy sacrament. They were taught His 
Word, and named and registered among the 
nnmher of his covenant people. They might 
have lived always at his feet, and in his 
favor. But they left Bethlehem in rehellious 
discontent. They wandered away from the 
voice of prayer, and of Divine instruction, to 
the haunts of vice, and the abodes of shame. 
The prodigal " gathered all together, and 
took his journey into a far country, and there 
wasted his substance in riotous living." It is 
a fearful thing to see Satan thus spoiling and 
plundering the nursery of the Lord. If we 
should say to many a wanderer in the basest 
sin, " From whence comest thou .?" how often 
would he have to reply, " I came from the 
house of God ; I came from the bosom of lov- 
ing, praying parents ; I came from a family 
of faithful prayer ; I had the mark of the 
Lord on my infant forehead ; I was early 
taught his blessed word. But sinners enticed 
me, and I consented. My soul has trodden 
down the Lord's strength. I have despised 



46 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

and grieved his holy Spirit. I have plunged 
from the very rock of grace into the deep 
ahyss of all iniquity." Ah, what a retrospect 
is this ! What bitter memories do all our 
wanderings from the house of God, and from 
the living bread of the Gospel, bring at last ! 
Whither did these Israelites wander ? To 
" the country of Moab ;" to a land of idol- 
atry ; a land of open licentiousness and crime. 
It was here that Balak tried to destroy IsraeL 
It was here that Balaam taught him to cor- 
rupt them with sensuality and open pollution. 
And yet hither, to this wretched, defiled land, 
so hostile to God and to his people, this wan- 
dering family from Bethlehem came. What 
a contrast of places was this ! What a 
change of condition to them ! What though 
bread were abundant there ! ^' Fullness of 
bread like that in Sodom !" Man does not 
live by bread alone. And who that truly 
loved God, would not rather live with a fam- 
ine in Bethlehem, than with sinful abundance 
in Moab ? 



THE WANDEREKS. 47 

Mere territorial Moab still lies on the east- 
ern side of Jordan and the Dead Sea. But 
there is an equivalent spiritual Moab every- 
where. The guilty world in which we dwell 
furnishes a Moab, in all its provisions of 
gratifications for the flesh, and all its tempta- 
tions to vicious indulgence, in every land. 
We need never go far to sojourn in Moab. 
Its crimes and its enjoyments, its hostility to 
the Saviour and to his people, are always in 
our view. Its false prophets, who cannot pre- 
vail against the children of grace with curses, 
are always on the alert, to entice them to eat 
of their sacrifices, and to bow down to their 
gods. Multitudes are caught in the fatal 
snares which are thus spread for the feet of 
the unwary. And, when the judgments of 
God come upon this guilty world, these poor 
victims of its delusions will perish with the 
Moab to which they have joined themselves. 

But how minutely true is the illustration 
which these wanderers from Bethlehem fur- 
nish ! They went to Moab, but only " to 



48 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

sojourn there." Just as Lot went to sojourn 
in Sodom. Just as every wanderer from God 
goes into the world. It is but for recreation. 
It is only a harmless indulgence. It is but 
for a season of enjoyment. They mean some 
time to return, and never to go back to Moab 
again. To die in Moab, without God, and 
without hope ! Nothing is further from their 
thoughts than this. They w411 only dip in 
the lake, like the swallow, and they shall feel 
refreshed for a longer flight. Ah, how little 
they know of the dangers they encounter ! 
They go like an ox to the slaughter, or like 
a bird to the snare of the fowler, and know 
not that it is for their life. They know not — 
they will not know — that the dead are there, 
and their guests are in the depths of heU. 
How many such have we known, whose in- 
fancy was openly offered to God ; over whose 
youth hope bent down to gaze with intense 
delights, and with the brightest anticipa- 
tions ; while decency has blushed and wept 
over the degradation of their maturity ; and 



THE WANDERERS. 49 

dark despair has built her tabernacle over 
their sepulchre. It is a fearful path. Whoso 
goeth therein shall not know life. 

0, ye children of Bethlehem, I entreat you, 
wander not to Moab. Seek no bread which 
is offered to you there. The sons and daugh- 
ters ^f Moab, the kings and projects of 
Moab, avoid them all. BalaFs house, full 
of silver and gold, will not alleviate the an- 
guish of Balaam's cry, " I shall see him, but 
not nigh ; let me die the death of the 
righteous, and let my last end be like his.'* 
There is no death of the righteous in Moab. 
But there is death, a sad, hopeless death — in 
the wretchedness of which, thou wilt mourn 
at the last, and say, " How have I hated in- 
struction, and my heart despised reproof ; I 
was almost in all evil, in the midst of the 
congregation and assembly." 

" pleasures past, what are ye now, 
But thorns about my bleeding brow? 
Spectres that hover round my brahi 
And mock and aggravate my pain. 

3 



50 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

" For Pleasure I have given my Boul I 
Now Justice bids her thunders roll; 
And Vengeance smiles, while, deep in woe, 
She lays the rebellious ingrate low." 

And what were the results of their wander- 
ing ? What could they be, but wasting 
sorrow and death ? How significant of their 
history do the names of these people seem ! 
The man's name was Elimelech, God my 
King. The name of his T^^fe, Naomi, Pleas- 
ant. Their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, 
Wasting and Consumption. The history of 
their lives seems to be written in their very 
names. Their wandering from the kingdom 
of God, and from the land where His Word 
and worship made even trials to be pleasant, 
brought nothing to them but sorrow, wast- 
ing, and death. Their temporary sojourn in 
Moab proved, for three of them, their last 
journey. ^' They came into the country of 
Moab, and they continued there." This was 
their last earthly home. They died in 
banishment from the land of their fathers 
and their God. Soon the father finished his 



THE WANDERERS. 51 

course, and died in Moab. But the father's 
death did not arouse them from their wander- 
ing, or send them back to seek the Lord. 
No. They were now sunk in the stupidity 
of their sin. The infatuation of the world 
had seized the widowed mother. The sons 
wed themselves to idolaters, and determine 
to make their abode in Moab. Ten years of 
guilty forgetfulness of God go by, and his 
awakening judgments interpose again. The 
two young men die also in the midst of their 
schemes of indulgence and sin. And three 
widows are there remaining, the solemn and 
affecting monuments that God will not be 
forgotten. Poverty comes in upon them like 
an armed man. Solitude, wretchedness, sep- 
aration from God, miserable reflections on 
the past, equally wretched prospects of the 
future, darken the windows of their widowed 
habitation. Ah, how sad are the results of 
a life of guilt ! How mournful are the con- 
sequences of a wandering from God ! 

Thus wretched and hopeless is always the 



52 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

sinner's degraded condition, when sin is about 
completing its perfect work ! The prodigal 
begins to be in want. He hires himself to 
feed swine in the field. He covets even the 
foul garbage which the swine do eat. He 
could be happy if he might bring his tastes 
perfectly to his condition. But this can 
never be, and he is more wretched and needy 
than they. Now, every thing has gone. 
Enjoyment has fled. Hope has expired. 
Society has departed. Companions stand 
aloof. Wealth has vanished. Nothing re- 
mains but degradation and despair. "Wast- 
ing and consumption are in all his borders. 
The sinner is left alone. The world, which 
has betrayed him, forsakes him. The enemy 
who has destroyed him, mocks at him. The 
only Comforter who can relieve his soul stands 
far from him. His judgment lingereth not. 
His damnation slumbereth not. No longer 
is he deceived. The misery of his condition 
is now before his view. His ruin is undeni- 
able. The wages of his sin is death. Eternal 



THE WANDEKERS. 63 

death, the worm that dieth not, and the fire 
that is not quenched, is spread out before him. 
To call this a result of wretchedness, of 
sorrow, is feeble and trifling. It is the dam- 
nation of the soul. It is a loss, for which 
earth has no measure ; for which the human 
mind has no conception ; which nothing can 
illustrate or explain, but the hopeless ex- 
perience of eternity itself. And this is the 
result of wandering from Grod ! 0, let sinful 
youth stop, and contemplate the end to 
which they press. Look whither you are 
going. See the sorrow you are laying up for 
yourselves, in a wasting of life without 
recovery ; in a departure without hope ; in 
an eternity which is darkness and the shadow 
of death. And while there is time and 
opportunity to return ; and hope of pardon, 
if you will return ; listen to the Lord Jesus, 
as he cries unto you ftom Bethlehem, from 
Calvary, from Zion : " Look unto me and be 
ye saved ; for I am God, and there is none 
else." 



III. 



%\t JifajaUning. 



Then Bhe arose with her daughters-in-law, that she might return from 
the coontry of Moab ; for she had heard in the countrj- of Moab. how 
that the Lord had visited his people, in giving them bread. Where- 
fore she went forth out of the place where she was, and her two 
daughters-in-law with her; and they went on their way to return 
unto the land of Judah." — Kxtth, L 6, 7. 

To trace the course of the wanderer away 
from God is sad and painful. The result 
of misery and regret is always the same ; 
whether he ever return to God or not, his 
sorrow over the remembrance of his wander- 
ing will be equally sure. He may never 
come back He may never receive the gifk 
of true repentance. He may never find the 
forgiveness of his sins. He may persevere 
in his rebellious folly to the end of life. 
But he can not avoid the long day of grief 



THE AWAKENING 55 

wHcli is sure to come. An awakening will 
at last arrive, when he will lift up his eyes 
in distress, and mourn over the madness 
which has suffered him to be so deceived and 
ruined by the enemies of his soul. 

We must never hesitate, therefore, in pro- 
claiming to all the wanderers from God, 
" You will find no rest in Moab." 



'The world can never give 

The "bliss for which you sigh; 

It is not all of life to live, 
Nor all of death to die." 



You will mourn at the last, though it may 
be with a sorrow of the world which worketh 
death. You will find no profit to yourself, 
though you may have gained the whole 
world, when God taketh away your soul. 

But I am not now to trace this course of 
sin to its dreadful result. There is for some 
a day of awakening in the present life. And, 
painful as this day may be, it is still a happy 
day. It is the beginning of a new life, a 
happy life, a life of glory. It is the dawning 



56 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

of a light which is prepared "as the morning. 
It is the blessed visitation of the grace and 
goodness of God to the lost and guilty. 
However faint and dim it may be in its 
beginning, it shineth more and more unto the 
perfect day. This is the awakening which 
we are now to trace. It is the commence- 
ment of the wanderer's return, over which 
there is joy in heaven, in the presence of the 
angels of God. Blessed is the soul to whom 
this heavenly mercy comes. Blessed will you 
be, if it shall come to you. 

We must never forget that this awakening 
of the soul is the work of God. The whole 
world lieth in the wicked one. Idolatry and 
enmity to God reign throughout the land of 
Moab. There Naomi dwells. There the sin- 
ner is found. There, if God permitted, Na- 
omi would die. There, if God did not arrest 
and arouse him, the sinner would perish. He 
sees the wanderer dead in his sins ; without 
God, and without hope ; nay, worse than this, 
satisfied, contented, often rejoicing in his state 



THE AWAKENING. 57 

of ruin. To leave him in prosperity in this 
condition, is to leave him to hopeless destruc- 
tion. God speaks unto him in his prosperity, 
and he says, I will not hear. This is his 
manner from his youth. Then comes the 
question, " What shall I do to my vineyard ? 
I will take away the hedge thereof, and it 
shall be eaten up ; and break down the wall 
thereof, and it shall be trodden down. I will 
lay it waste, and it shall not be pruned nor 
digged ; but there shall come up briars and 
thorns." Then God sends awakening provi- 
dences. Afflictions and losses are multiplied. 
The nest is broken up. The soul is made 
sorrowful. Thus it was with Naomi. Her 
husband died. Her two sons are taken away. 
" And the woman is left of her two sons, and 
her husband." Now Moab begins to show its 
real character, its perfect worthlessness to 
comfort the suffering soul. The folly of their 
wandering begins to appear. This is God's 
method of commencement. Thus he giveth 
his beloved rest. 

3* 



58 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

How many of his children have been saved 
by the bitter remedy of affliction, and have 
thus been taught to bless the chastenings of 
the Lord ! Adversity saves multitudes whom 
prosperity would have destroyed. But pros- 
perity will rarely bless those who have passed 
through sorrow unawakened. Naomi, solitary 
and bereaved, feels her soul far off from 
peace. She forgets prosperity. Remember- 
ing her affliction and her misery, the worm- 
wood and the gall, her soul is humbled within 
her. This she recalls to mind, and now she 
has hope. It is of the Lord's mercies she is 
not consumed, because his compassions fail 
not. 

But why should you ever provoke the 
Lord to visit you with sorrow ? Why should 
you make affliction necessary to your soul's 
salvation ? Let the goodness of the Lord 
lead you to repentance. Let his love awaken 
your gratitude. Let his long-suffering recall 
your affections to his service. Listen to the 
voice of his gracious inflations, and seek him 



THE AWAKENING. 59 

wMle he may be found, with filial, grateful 
love. Choose him freely as your Father, and 
your eternal portion ; not because he drives 
you to himself, but because you desire and 
love him. How much happier, and how 
much more likely to be permanent, is that 
piety which comes in youth, and health, and 
prosperity, and which lays an affectionate 
filial spirit at the Saviour's feet, serving him 
because he is altogether lovely, the chief 
among ten thousand ! 

"As by the light of opening day 
The stars are all concealed ; 
So earthly glories fade away 
When Jesus is revealed." 

But whether affliction or joy be made the 
instrument to awaken the soul, it is equally a 
Divine instrument. The work is altogether 
the Lord's work. The Holy Spirit alone can 
give you a knowledge of your sin, and create 
a godly sorrow in your hearts. There is 
nothing in the instrument, whatever it may 
be, which can change the heart of man. 



60 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

When the world becomes distasteful, and the 
soul is wearied with sin ; when you feel the 
guilt of your wandering, and desire to return 
to God ; when you are conscious of the first 
emotion of sorrow for your transgression, and 
begin to look back upon your life with shame 
and regret — this is the work of the Holy 
Spirit. Welcome it, encourage it, do not 
resist it, but cultivate it as a priceless gift. 
Now God means to bless you indeed. Listen 
to his voice with gladness. 

Sad were Naomi's condition and feelings. 
Her heart was solitary and broken. And yet 
this was the most promising hour of her life. 
Far, far better was this beginning of a return 
with conscious emptiness to God, than her 
former going out full. Now she may hope. 
It is the beginning of a blessed day. When 
the prodigal comes to himself, the Savioiu* 
rejoices, and angels triumph. Blessed, glori- 
ous evidence, that God has not finally for- 
saken him like reprobate silver, and thrown 
him aside, cast out of the sight of his eyes. 



THE AWAKENING 61 

Happy will be the day when we shall see you 
all thus aroused from your slumbers, and 
made to inquire for that blessed Lord, whom 
you have so long neglected, and so much 
offended. Awake, awake, my young friends, 
from this dreaming life in Moab, and return 
unto the Lord, and he will receive you. He 
will abundantly pardon you, and give you the 
sure mercies of his Son, your all-sufficient, 
only Saviour. 

In this day of awakening, Naomi found 
that she had gained nothing by her wander- 
ing from God. There had been a famine in 
Judah. But ah, she had found a far worse 
famine in Moab. There, every comfort had 
failed, and every hope had departed. In no 
single point was her condition improved by 
her flight from Israel. But was this peculiar 
to her ? Can you ever gain in such a course ? 
We often hear of the toils and trials of relig- 
ion ; and of the joys and pleasures of the 
world. But is not all this a delusion ? Has 
the worldly mind a single real pleasure which 



62 THE men KINSMAN. 

is denied to tlic Christian ? Are the enjoy- 
ments of the present life ever enhanced by 
rebellion against God ? Are you ever the 
happier for transgression, or made the more 
contented by forgetting your Creator ? 

Far enough from all this is your actual 
experience. Your awakened mind looks back 
upon life, to say, with distress, I have sinned, 
and what hath it profited me ? There is not 
a single real pleasure, or joy, or gain in life, 
of which any man can truly say, '^ This, at 
least, is the reward of my sin." What had 
the prodigal gained when he came to him- 
self.? His property wasted, his life miser- 
able, his condition degraded ! Alas, sin had 
cost him much, but it had brought him no- 
thing. You will all see the same unprofitable 
character in life past. You will look back 
upon the whole of life, and feel that you have 
spent your strength in vain. You have no- 
thing to show as the recompense of all your 
toil and labor. 

Even if you never truly repent, your ret- 



THE AWAKENING. 63 

rospect of life will be just as unsatisfying, 
and destitute of comfort to your soul. You 
may dance and frolic. You may indulge your 
sinful appetites. You may pass your days 
and nights in frivolity and mirth. You may 
acquire wealth, and withhold yourself from 
no joy within the reach of a sinful man. 
You may take God's Sabbath to yourself, 
and find your pleasure on his holy day. But 
when you come to look back upon all this 
from the hour of death, or from the day of 
judgment, the memory of your folly will eat 
into your soul, as if it were fire. You will 
despise all that you have gained. You will 
despise yourself, for pursuing vanities so mad- 
ly. And nothing will remain to you as the 
result, but the most overwhelming despair, 

I knew a young lady in the very morning 
of her life, whose earthly condition gave her 
every means of indulgence, and who spent 
her days in the society of the gay and 
worldly. She rejected the Gospel from her 
heart, though she heard it weekly. The 



64 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

bread of Bethlehem she gave up for the vines 
of Moah. The voice of a Saviour she ex- 
changed for the flattery of the world. There 
was, to her, a famine in the Church of the 
joys which she desired, and she tried to find 
them in the gay and glittering throng of the 
guilty. Thus she passed her life in the giddy 
whirl of pleasure, and tried to think that she 
was happy. But God suddenly blasted all 
her hopes, and blighted all her joys. She 
was laid upon a bed of sickness for immediate 
and unexpected death. A few hours only 
passed before she died. But they were sad 
and awful hours. She was awakened to see 
her guilt, and to mourn over her worldly, 
sinful life. Her cry was, '^ I am black with 
sin." This she repeated without comfort. 
Vain were the provisions of wealth. Vain 
were the consolations of worldly friends. 
Vain was the memory of joys that were 
passed. The Spirit had aroused her con- 
science, and she abhorred them all. And 
though she died with no happy avowal of 



THE AWAKENING. 65 

hope, her agonizing soul cried out, over and 
over again, " I am black with sin — I am all 
black with sin." Ah, how vain and empty 
Moab looks, when this day of awakening 
comes ! It has nothing which can offer one 
hour's peace to an anxious, serious mind. 
And all the days and years which you may 
have spent there, are, at the very best view 
of them, but so much time completely wasted 
and thrown away. 

But Naomi found more than this. Her 
wandering from God had brought great loss 
and sorrow with it. She was left a widow 
and childless. Her husband and her sons 
were taken from her ; and, like Kachel, she 
was weeping, with no comforter. All the 
evils which she might have suffered in Israel 
seemed of little account, in comparison with 
her present griefs. We can bear any out- 
ward trial with patience, and even with 
pleasure, if we have affectionate sympathy 
under it, from our family and friends, and can 
see the good hand of the Lord in laying it 



bb THE RICH KINSMAN. 

upon US. Naomi was ready to say, " 1 would 
rather have been a beggar in Canaan, with 
my husband and my sons about me, than be 
the possessor of every thing in Moab without 
them. But they were gone, and every thing 
she valued seemed to have gone with them. 
Well did she say, " Call me not Naomi, 
pleasant ; call me Mara, bitter, for the Al- 
mighty hath dealt very bitterly with me." 
Yes, the wages of all our wanderings from 
God are bitter enough. Earthly pleasure may 
give its color in the cup, and appear to the 
deluded eye to move itself aright. But at 
the last, it will bite like a serpent, and sting 
like an adder. The wages of sin is death. 

These present actual losses are in them- 
selves quite sufficient to arrest your con- 
science, and make you stop and think of your 
folly in a course of wandering from God. In 
the day of your real awakening from your sin, 
you will find it so. How much yoil have lost ! 
You have thrown away the favor of God. 
You have sacrificed your peace of conscience. 



THE AWAKENING. 67 

You have lost your early readiness to receive 
religious impressions. You have driven away 
the Saviour who would have loved and 
blessed you. You have grieved and wearied 
the Holy Spirit, who admonished and taught 
you. You have thrown from you the pre- 
cious hope and comfort which the Gospel 
offered you. And what have you left ? 
Nothing. Nothing but degradation and 
guilt. Not a day of life passed can satisfy 
you. It all seems guilty and wretched in 
an extreme degree. You look back upon it 
with shame and sorrow. It is a vain attempt 
to console you with the idea that your views 
of sin are excessive ; that your estimate of 
your guilt is overwrought. No. You see 
the hidden evils of your heart, evils which 
others can not see. The outward restraints 
which they have seen, and which they ap- 
prove, do not make these evils less. Your 
heart within is deceitful above all things, 
and desperately wicked. And it is this 



J 



68 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

which fills you with grief, and humbles you 
with conscious unworthincss. 

No one can estimate these losses in Moab, 
until he sets out to come back to God. 
Then the world assumes its real aspect. 
Unpardoned sin reveals its grievous load. 
All your gains are nothing. Your stricken 
soul mourns in bitterness. Your broken 
heart cries out with anguish. Your con- 
science tells you of a thousand forgotten 
crimes. You despise the follies which have 
deluded you. You abhor the guilt which 
has marked you before God. There is no 
peace for your soul. Wretched, helpless, 
almost in despair, you cry out, " Who shall 
deliver me from the body of this death V 
Every thing seems lost. And unless you 
can be brought back to God in peace, and 
find forgiveness of sin in the exalted Saviour, 
every thing is lost indeed. 

But good news from the Lord's land comes 
to this awakened wanderer. '^ Naomi heard 
in the country of Moab how that the Lord 



THE AWAKENING. 69 

had visited his people, in giving them bread/' 
This was good news from her forsaken home. 
Here was the first ray of light which dawned 
on her darkened spirit. Here was the first 
spring of hope in her desolate and barren 
heart. All then was not lost. If she could 
only get back to Bethlehem again, all might 
be well once more. Thus the prodigal 
remembered, in the day of his misery, how 
many hired servants of his father had bread 
enough and to spare, while he was perishing 
with hunger. How true and beautiful is the 
application of this to every wanderer from God ! 
What precious intelligence does the Grospel 
bring to the guilty ! It declares the pardon- 
ing love of Grod. It proclaims complete 
atonement in the blood of Jesus. It an- 
nounces fuU salvation in his merits and 
death. It exhibits Grod reconciled to those 
who have rebelled against him. It offers 
this reconciliation in a Divine Saviour. It 
teaches them that he is able to save unto 
the uttermost, all who come unto God 



70 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

through him. It calls upon lost sinners to 
fly to Jesus. It assures the weary and the 
wretched that in Him there is help. It is 
good news to the perishing. There is bread 
enough and to spare. God hath visited his 
people in giving them bread. Why then 
should any die, when there is an all-sufficient 
Saviour for all .? This is the message from 
Immanuel's land. 

It comes to you as lost in guilt. It comes 
to you when you are in Moab, in the very 
midst of your transgressions. The Son of 
Man is come to seek and to save that which 
was lost. This is the only qualification in 
you to Avhich the Saviour looks. He desires 
you to feel that you are lost ; to acknowl- 
edge that you are lost ; and then to be will- 
ing and contented to be saved. Thus we are 
to deliver God's message of love to you. 
Thus we are to preach the Gospel to a world 
of sinners. It is of no consequence how 
guilty, how lost, how debased, how far astray 
from God you may be. no. The blood 



I 



THE AWAKENING. 71 

of Jesus Christ can cleanse you from all sin. 
In the fountain which he has opened, you 
may be washed as white as snow. The mes- 
sage comes to you. Hear it. Keceive it. 
Kejoice in it. It is a message from God to 
each of you. Whosoever will may come, and 
eat and drink and live for ever. This is the 
intelligence which comes in the Gospel to 
guilty man. This is the message which 
seems so precious and encouraging to the 
mind of the awakened sinner. It is the 
Word of Life. It says to him, Live ; yea, it 
says to him, Live. And now there seems a 
hope, a bright and encouraging hope before 
him. Like the wounded Israelite, he can 
raise his languid eye to the brazen serpent. 
He can look upon the divine provision. He 
can behold Jesus with new feelings of con- 
solation. His mourning heart is ready to 
say, with the most affectionate gratitude, 

" Poor though I am, despised, forgot, 
Yet God, my God, forsakes me not ; 
And he is safe, and must succeed. 
For whom the Lord vouchsafes to plead." 



72 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

Then the awakened wanderer sets out at 
once on a return. Naomi '' arose, that she 
might return from the country of Moab ; 
wherefore she went forth out of the place 
where she was, on the way to return into the 
land of Judah." Yes — the very first thing, 
when your mind is awakened, and you see 
and feel your guilt, is to go back Not to 
consider ; not to deliberate ; not to sit down 
and mourn over your losses and \vretchednes8. 
But to arise at once, and return to Grod, who 
TN-ill abundantly pardon. The prodigal said, 
^' I will arise and go to my father." " And he 
arose and came to his father." This settled 
the whole matter. So Naomi " set out from 
the place where she was." This was her first 
immediate act. This must be yours. You 
want no preparation for your return to God 
but a sense of your need. Do you feel your 
guilt ? Do you see the folly of your sinful 
life ? Do you hear the news of divine for- 
giveness ? Then there is nothing more to be 



THE AWAKENING. 73 

done, but to accept the message from. God, 
and to set out upon your return at once. 

Many think they must first feel much, and 
mourn much, and suffer much, before they 
can hope to go back in peace to God. But 
why ? Will your suffering save you .^ Will 
your multiplied tears add any thing to a Sa- 
viour's worth ? Is Christ to be more suffi- 
cient because you have mourned so much ? 
Can you make yourself in any way better 
before you come ? Ah, how vain are all such 
thoughts ! The first thing for you to do, is 
to go directly to the Saviour, with perfect 
confidence and hope, and with no fear. Is 
your dwelling on fire ? And must you wait 
until you are scorched with the flames before 
you can escape in safety .^ Have you mistaken 
your road in journeying .? And can you recover 
your lost steps the better by delay or hesita- 
tion, or fruitless grief ? Nay. You want all 
the time for actual pursuit. You have none 
to waste. Turn! Turn! Fly! Fly! Tis 
madness to defer. When your conscience is 
4 



74 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

aroused, this is the next step — the first step. 
You can do nothing for your safety until you 
do this. Jesus is your refuge. You can have 
no safety until you flee to him. You need not 
wait an hour, or a moment. " Seek ye my 
face," he says. Let your heart reply at once, 
" Thy face will I seek." David says, " When 
thou shalt enlarge my heart, I will run the 
way of thy commandments." " I made haste, 
I delayed not, to keep thy commandments." 
Nay, further than this, he says he would not 
stop to breathe before he set out : "I opened 
my mouth, and dreiv in my hreath, for I 
longed for thy commandments." Set out 
from the very place where you are ; vrith all 
your guilt, and all your degradation. Go just 
as you are, and ask and expect forgiveness. 

"Just as I am, O waiting not 
To rid my soul from one dark blot, 
To thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot, 
To thee, Lamb of God, I come." 

Naomi goes to no other part of Moab ; to 
no other land of idolatry. 3he goes directly 



THE AWAKENING. 75 

back to the land of Judah. This is a blessed 
example. How many go from one broken 
cistern to another, instead of going at once to 
the fountain of living waters. When the 
burden of sin and sorrow presses, some fly to 
worldly pleasure, and try to drown their sense 
of guilt in deeper sin. Some rush into un- 
belief, and strive, by voluntary infidelity, to 
drive off the precious Comforter who would 
lead them back to God. Some burden them- 
selves with self-righteous superstitions ; with 
ceremonies, penances, and popery ; and try to 
find some way of safety among the blind pass- 
ages, and dark dungeons which are opened 
before them there. But all these efforts are 
vain. Edom or Babylon are' no better than 
Moab. No. You must fly to Bethlehem at 
once. Gro directly to an offered Saviour. Gro 
as a beggar. Go as a rebel. Go, feeling that 
you deserve to be condemned. But go. Go 
with hope. Go with trust. Go with assur- 
ance. Go without fear. He will not refuse 
you, nor reject you. He will in no wise cast 



76 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

you out. Your safety and your hope depend 
upon an instant, decided, and undoubted re- 
turn to God. Often this safety hangs upon 
a momentary decision. Your awakened mind 
is brought where you must decide positively 
on the one side or on the other. You must 
either absolutely accept or reject the Gospel. 
You must either affectionately submit to 
God, or peremptorily refuse the offer of his 
grace. Now is your accepted time. This is 
the day of your salvation. 

I remember a young man whom I once met 
in my study for religious conversation. I 
found him one who had been gay, trifling, 
and carelessly living without God. But he 
was now awakened, serious, yet hesitating 
and proud. His wife, he said, was a religious 
woman. But he had been a neglecter of the 
whole subject of his own salvation. I con- 
versed long with him. At last I said, ^^ Now 
go home, and take your stand for Christ to- 
night ; and tell your wife that the time past 
of your life has been enough for sin, and now 



THE AWAKENING. 77 

you mean to live for Christ, and the kingdom 
of God. Kneel down with, her, and begin 
your united prayer to-night. Will you do 
this .?" " No," he answered, " I can not." I 
vainly remonstrated with him. He was im- 
movable. I then said, " I have nothing 
more to say." For some minutes we sat in 
silence. I asked him again, and again he 
refused. Silence again intervened, until, in a 
few minutes more he rose from his seat, and 
sighed deeply. The tears started from his eyes, 
and, as I asked him again, he answered me, " I 
will," and immediately left my house. The 
next evening I saw him entering our evening 
worship at the church, with a young woman 
leaning on his arm, whom I had often marked 
there as a stranger, and a woman of a sor- 
rowful spirit. They came to the front seat 
immediately before me, and knelt down to- 
gether in private prayer. Ah, how my 
heart rejoiced in the sight before me ! It 
was the manifest sign to me that the Spirit 
of the Lord had gained the victory in his 



78 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

heart. When the public service was con- 
cluded, I approached them, and asked him if 
this was his wife. He answered, yes. I told 
her what this young man had promised me to 
do the night before. " Did he do it .J^" "Yes," 
'said she, "he did." "And how do you feel 
to-night," I said to him. " Sir," he exclaimed, 
" I am the happiest man in the City of Phil- 
adelphia." This young man walked faith- 
fully in our midst for some years, as a servant 
of the Lord, and then, under a rapid con- 
sumption, he sunk in death. When near his 
hour of departure, I said to him, " Do you 
remember the evening when you first came to 
my study ?" " Remember it ?" said he, " I 
shall never forget it through all eternity. It 
was the birthday of my soul." And he raised 
his feeble hands, clasped them together, and, 
covering his face, burst into a flood of tears. 

Ah, how much depended, in his case, upon 
that instant return to God ! Like Naomi, 
" he rose up from the place where he was," 
and went directly to the Lord, who called 



THE AWAKENING. 79 

him to be Ms servant. There he found peace 
for ever. « He will praise G-od through eter- 
nity for the blessing of that night. This is the 
way of peace — the only way of peace. Thus 
the prodigal ^^ arose and came to his father. 
But when he was yet a great way off, his 
father saw him, and had compassion, and 
ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." 
Thus the Saviour is ready to meet you, and 
to bless you all. Who is ready to rise up at 
once and go ? He promises to receive you. 
He will in no wise cast you out. come, 
hasten to him, and settle the great question 
for your soul, by a happy and faithful sur- 
render of yourselves to him. 



IV. 

%\t f rumising Cummtnttrntnt. 



And Naomi said unto her two daugbtcrs-in-law, Go, return each to her 
mother's house : the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with 
the dead, and with me. The Lord ^rant you that ye may find rest, 
each of you in the house of her husband. Then she kissed them; 
and they lifted up their voice and wept And they said unto her, 
Surely we will return with theo unto thy people. And Naomi said. 
Turn again, my daughters: why will ye go with me ? Are there yet 
any more sons In my womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn 
again, my daughters, go your May; for I am too old to have an hus- 
band. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also 
to-night, and should also bear sons; would ye tarry for them till they 
were grown ? Would ye stay for them from having husbands? Nay, 
my daughters; for it grleveth me much for your sakes, that the band 
of the Lord ifl gone out against me." — Kuth, i. S-13. 



Here we have the most happy and prom- 
ising commencement of a new work. The 
awakened wanderer sets out on an immediate 
return. The Holy Spirit has showed him the 
guilt and loss of his past course, and has 
excited in him the earnest desire for pardon 



THE PBOMISIKG COMMENCEMENT. 81 

and deliverance. He lias tauglit him tliat 
with the Lord there is mercy, and with him 
is plenteous redemption. He has stirred him 
up to seek the Lord while he may be found ; 
and the sinner says, " I will go and return 
unto the Lord, for with him the fatherless 
findeth mercy." 

But never does the really penitent sinner 
desire to return to God alone. An im- 
mediate sympathy makes him anxious for the 
salvation of those whom he loves. " Andrew 
findeth his own brother Simon, and saith 
unto him. We have found the Christ, and he 
brought him to Jesus." Moses said unto 
Hobab, his brother-in-law, " We are journey- 
ing unto the place of which the Lord hath 
said, I will give it to you ; come thou with 
us, and we will do thee good, for the Lord 
hath spoken good concerning Israel." Naomi 
would not willingly leave her widowed 
daughters-in-law in Moab. Though she 
apparently discourages them, it is with the 
manifest design that they should go with her, 
4* 



82 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

upon motives that should be permanent, and 
not disappointing. And this is the point of 
their history we have now to consider. 

We see them all set out together, upon the 
same road, and apparently for the same 
result. " She went forth out of the place 
where she was, and her two daughters-in-law 
with her ; and they went on their way to 
return unto the land of Judah." No one 
who saw them set out upon their journey 
could anticipate that they would voluntarily 
separate, or imagine that one was more likely 
than the other to reach the end proposed. 
They all set out together. Orpah seemed as 
promising as Ruth. We are obliged to wait 
until succeeding trials shall bring their real 
characters individually to light, before we 
can discriminate between them. Thus the 
Lord teaches us in the parable of the sower. 
The same hand sowed the same seed on all 
the varieties of the ground. But the results 
which are produced differ most widely. Many 
listen together to the preaching of the Word 



THE PROMISING COMMEKCEMENT. 83 

of God. Many feel together the burden of 
personal affliction and distress. Many are 
made to see their danger, and to remember 
their responsibility to God. Many appear to 
feel the guilt of their past sinful life, and to 
be really aroused in their mind and con- 
science to the necessity of obtaining salvation 
for their souls. By a great variety of means, 
God stirs up sinful men to seek after himself. 
Anxious, excited, apparently earnest and 
sincere, they set out upon their journey back 
to the gracious Being whom they have so 
long neglected. Yes ; they really set out, 
and appear to set out sincerely. 

I do not mean that such persons feel their 
need and danger ; that they meditate seri- 
ously upon their return to God ; that they 
resolve they will go back. No. I mean that 
they actually begin their journey. The prod- 
igal not only says, "I will arise and go to 
my father ;" he does arise and go. Even so 
far, it is an encouraging and happy com- 
mencement. But, my dear young friends, 



84 THE men KINSMAN. 

there is more to be considered than this 
promising commencement. Thus fiir the 
Orpahs and the Ruths set out together. 
Moved by fear, or love, or desire, or sense of 
duty, they join Naomi in her journey back to 
Judah. They leave the place in which they 
have dwelt in Moab. They travel together 
in the same path, toward the final boundary 
between Moab and Judah. They seem en- 
gaged for the same object, and in the same 
enterprise. The sins and follies of this out- 
ward world, they all, for a season, relinquish. 
The assemblies of Christians for worship, 
they unite to attend. The habit of private 
prayer and reading of the Scriptures, they all, 
for a season, adopt. Perhaps in the most 
public way and form, they may together 
avow themselves the servants of the Lord. 
Whatever can be done in religious appear- 
ance, in the world, and without an absolute 
separation of heart from the world, they may 
have in common. The wise a»nd foolish 
virgins both take their lamps and, go forth 



J 



THE PROMISING COMMENCEMENT. 85 

to meet the bridegroom. Thus all go to- 
gether " on the way to return into the land 
of Judah." As far as this journey lies still 
within the limits of Moab, so far they may 
unite to go. Up to a certain point, they 
must take the same path, and travel in the 
same direction. 

Ah, how many of these young travelers 
have I seen ! The Church delighted over 
them. The pastor rejoiced in them. Chris- 
tian friends were encouraged by them. The 
brightest and most blessed hopes clustered 
around them. The Lord only, who knoweth 
the hearts of the children of men, could have 
told us which were the Orpahs, and which 
were the Kuths of this hopeful company. He 
knoweth them that are his, and can not be 
deceived. His judgment at the last separates 
the precious and the vile, divides the gold 
from the dross, and assigns to each his own 
place. But that judgment he does not an- 
nounce to us in advance. He makes experi- 
ence prove them ; and bids us mark the trial. 



86 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

As he said of Gideon's soldiers, " Bring them 
down to the water, and I will try them for 
thee there," so he proves our young travelers 
for us, and we are soon made to see who they 
arc " that draw back into perdition," and 
who they are " that believe to the saving of 
the soul." For a season they must be al- 
lowed to go on together. Awakened, con- 
vinced, interested in religion, apparently 
equally determined, they set out well. We 
welcome their commencement. We encour- 
age them to perseverance. We bid them 
hope on to the end, for the grace that shall 
be given them. We urge them to lay hold 
on eternal life, and see that no man take 
their crown. Happy should we be did they 
all receive our exhortation. 

But we must follow our travelers in their 
journey, and see why and where they sepa- 
rate. As we thus follow them, we see them 
meet with many trials of faith and patience 
on the road. Little is said of the events of 
Naomi's journey. But it is an easy imagina- 



THE PROMISING COMMENCEMENT. 87 

tion to describe the trials in their path. 
Three lonely, beggared women, undertaking, 
without protection, a journey like that from 
Moab to Bethlehem, must expect many trials 
in the way. They go back empty. And all 
the sorrows of their poverty, their solitude, 
their weakness, their want of defense, and their 
fears even of the final result of their under- 
taking, are easily seen and imagined by us. 
Much was to be given up. Much was to be 
encountered. Much was to be feared. And 
it required the strongest and purest motives 
of conduct, to endure the trial. Ah, how 
accurately the illustration applies to our pur- 
pose of instruction ! What difficulties the 
awakened mind finds in its attempt to return 
to God ! And if we leave out of our view 
the renewing and triumphant power of the 
Holy Spirit which leads the sincere heart on 
from grace to glory, how many trials of faith 
and patience do these difficulties present ! 

Your former habits of sin are to be re- 
nounced. Your secret faults, your lines of 



88 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

conscious transgression, known only to your- 
selves, are to be cast away. Many indul- 
gences and gratifications that you have loved, 
are to be thrown aside for ever. Many cor- 
rupting and ensnaring ways of the present 
evil world, to w^hich you have been accus- 
tomed, are to be avoided. The habits of 
Moab, habits which, until now, you never 
knew or thought to be wrong or ruinous, are 
to be opposed. With them you are to main- 
tain no concord or agreement. This is the 
putting off the old man, corrupted with de- 
ceitful lusts, and strengthened by long indul- 
gence. It must be faithfully accomplished. 
The deeds and customs of Moab can not follow 
you to Judah. You can not live in sin, and 
be conformed to the world, and yet live and 
walk in Christ. No. You must break off 
your sins by righteousness. The old things 
must pass away. And this is a great trial of 
faith and patience. If it could be done by a 
single struggle, if one fight could end the 
contest, the work would be comparatively 



THE PROMISING COMMENCEMENT. 89 

easy. But you can not leap thus with a single 
bound from Moab to Judah. And this long- 
continued journey, these repeated struggles 
with sin, these frequent defeats by the power 
of remaining evil, these distressing fears lest 
you shall never get through in safety, lest 
you shall at last make shipwreck by the way 
— ah, my young friends, well do I know what 
trials of faith and patience they inevitably 
bring. If you were left alone, unprotected 
and unguided, you would surely perish by the 
way. 

But, in addition to these, new habits of 
conduct and feeling are to be acquired. The 
habit of secret prayer in your closet and your 
chamber — the habit of constant, earnest study 
of the Word of God — the habit of watchful- 
ness over your easily-besetting sins— the habit 
of caution in your allowed indulgences — the 
habit of consideration and discernment in 
your relations and company — the habit of 
resistance to your inward propensities to evil 
— the habit of silence fl:om sinful and foolish 



90 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

talking — the habit of kindness in expressions, 
manners, and actions toward others — the 
habit of disinterestedness and activity in your 
efforts to do good to all — and, above all, the 
habit of constant remembrance of God your 
Saviour, and of simple, earnest faith in his 
presence, protection, and help ; all these, if 
I should mention no more, are to be acquired, 
cultivated, and maintained. If all this could 
be done by a single effort, it would be easy 
work. But that is impossible. It is a jour- 
ney of successive steps, of continued progress ; 
and you have to press forward in it with the 
utmost determination, and the most sincere 
desire. You may pass through many discour- 
agements and defeats in this constant effort 
to put on the new man, renewed and holy 
after the Saviour's image. Faith and patience 
wiU have many trials before it can be com- 
pletely done. And if the blessed Spirit of 
God did not constantly uphold and aid you, 
aU your own efforts would be in vain. But I 
now speak of these things only as the subjects 



THE PKOMISING COMMENCEMENT. 91 

of your own effort. And well I know the dif- 
ficulties of the work. 

But above all these habits of outward life, 
you have to come with the deep sense of sin, 
with a consciousness that you are condemned 
and destitute, with an entire refusal to trust 
in any virtue or excellence of your own, and 
to cast yourself in an affectionate and simple 
trust at your Saviour's feet. 

" Foul, I to the fountain fly ; 
Wasli me, Jesus, or I die." 

Yes. You are there to believe that you 
are forgiven, accepted, blessed in him, though 
you are perfectly guilty and helpless in your- 
self. Against this humbled, self-renouncing 
temper, every thing in your own self-right- 
eous heart struggles and contends unceasing- 
ly. The very hardest thing in this journey 
from Moab to Judah is to maintain a feeling 
of your own helplessness, and an affectionate 
confidence in the Saviour who has redeemed 
you, and is guiding you to glory. And yet 
this is indispensable. All who set out on 



J 



92 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

this return to God must meet with these 
various trials of faith aucl patience on the 
road. Whether they are real penitents or 
not, whether they are truly led by the Holy 
Spirit or not, whether they pro.e to be 
Orpahs or Ruths in the result of the trial, 
there is no other way in which they can go. 
And though it seems to be hard, and Orpah 
finds it so, and gives up, wearied, disgusted, 
and a cast-away, yet it is not really hard to a 
heart that loves the Saviour. Euth finds no- 
thing in it which can separate her from the 
Lord whom she loves, and whom she has really 
chosen as her portion for ever. 

We see these young travelers meet with 
many discouragements to their return. How 
earnestly Naomi argues with them to search 
what manner of spirits they were of ! How 
kindly she presses them to go back, and find 
their shelter and their rest among the friends 
whom they were lea\ang ! How she presses 
upon their remembrance that she has nothing 
to ofier them, no hopes, no promises to hold 



THE PKOMISING COMMENCEMENT. 93 

out, of present or prospective worldly gain ! 
How slie mingles tlie expressions of her grati- 
tude and lier grief, in order the more effect- 
ually to impress them with a conviction of the 
earthly poverty of the journey ! Again and 
again she kissed them in token of farewell. 
Again and again they wept in protestations 
of their fidelity and determination. How af- 
fecting, and how promising seems such an 
interview ! Kead again these pathetic verses. 
Did Naomi really wish to discourage them ? 
Did she really desire them to go back ? Was 
she willing to leave them in Moab ? Did 
Orpah gratify her more than Kuth ? Far 
from this. She would try their faith and 
their affection. She would know what was 
in their heart. She would see how long and 
how truly she might trust them hereafter. 
And therefore she lays before them the sor- 
rows of the journey, and the barrenness of the 
earthly prospect. 

Thus the gracious Saviour proves the dis- 
ciples who gather around him. How faith- 



94 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

fully he warned those who fullowed liim when 
he was on the earth ! He told them the trials 
they must meet. The disciple could not be 
above liis master. The world reproached, 
persecuted, killed him. Those who followed 
must drink of the same cup, and be baptized 
with the same baptism. He had not where 
to lay his head. In the service of such a 
master they could expect no earthly wealth 
or power. They would find his service brought 
not worldly peace, but a sword. Unless, 
therefore, they loved him enough to be happy 
in parting with with every thing else for him, 
and suffering every thing for his sake, they 
could not be his disciples. Did he mean to 
discourage them, or to drive them away ? 
Did he wish them to leave him, and walk 
with him no more ? Far, far from that. He 
desired to prove them, to bring out to their 
own view the secret motives of their hearts, 
and to let them see and determine whether 
they could still follow him, when they had no 
earthly benefit to expect in his service. When 



THE PROMISINa COMMENCEMENT. 95 

they had thus been tried, and could feel 
able to say from their hearts, " Lord, thou 
knowest all things, thou knowest that we love 
thee," then their way was safe, happy, and 
sure, whatever trials of faith and patience it 
might bring them, on the road. 

Thus the Saviour still tries the youthful 
disciples who come to him. He bids you re- 
member that you have nothing to expect in 
this world, of mere worldly advantages, in his 
service. He will make you happy in serving 
him. But it is not with worldly happiness. 
He will give you peace in him. But that 
will be in your losses for his sake, and in your 
willingness to part with all for him. When 
you come to serve the Lord, you must prepare 
your soul for temptation. From the day you 
set out on your heavenly journey, discourage- 
ments and diflaculties will seem to multiply 
around you. 

The world will be arrayed against you. 
The habits, opinions, and plans of worldly 
people are constant obstacles in your way. 



96 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

They will ridicule you. They will frown 
upon you. They will scoff at you. They 
will entice you. They will attempt to be- 
wilder you with arguments and objections. 
They will often compel you either to peld to 
them, or to live and walk alone. They will 
be often in your families and households ; it 
may be, your nearest earthly relations, whom 
it is impossible to avoid, and wicked to 
despise. Ah, this discouragement is very 
great. And whether I hear the enemy blow- 
ing the trumpet of threatening hostility, or 
breathing the soft notes of attraction and 
enticement around you, I look upon your 
young religion with the deepest anxiety and 
concern. How will you stand it ? What is 
to be the result of it ? God only can make 
you stand. 

The professed Christians around you are 
often fearful obstacles in your way. You 
see and hear of old communicants to whom 
the theater, the opera, the ball-room, appear 
just as easily habitual as the church. You 



I 



THE PROMISING COMMENCEMENT. 9T 

hear of professed ministers of the Gospel 
apologizing for habits of the most complete 
devotion to the world. You see those who 
profess to follow Christ, in many instances 
living just as gayly, as extravagantly, as in- 
dulgently, often as sinfully, as if they had 
made no such profession. Few of them love 
to talk with you of Christ. Fewer still to 
pray with you for his blessing. They appear 
to be in the world, of the world, with the 
world, part of the world, and you can see no 
difference between the two, except in some 
occasional public religious observance. Ah, 
how sad is the influence which such professors 
exercise ! How painful to the young Chris- 
tian traveler, the trial of faith and patience 
which such disappointments in character pre- 
sent ! You may often sigh for a religious 
encouragement from them which you do not 
find ; and for a sympathy for your temjDted 
and struggling soul which they seem wholly 
unable to feel. This discouragement is great. 
Your own inward heart and feelings will 
5 



98 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

often be very discouraging to you. There is 
such backwardness in prayer — such want of 
deep interest in the Word and service of 
God ; — there are such multiplied risings of the 
sinful nature that seems to be dwelling with- 
in you ; — there is so little of the excitement 
which you hoped to find — so little sensible 
enjoyment often in your new path — such a 
necessity for constant warfare, and constant 
watchfulness within yourself. If you relax a 
moment, you fall. If you stop to rest, you 
sink in hazardous, ruinous lethargy and 
slumber. Your conscience often seems little 
at peace ; such a sense of sin prevails, and 
pervades through your secret thoughts. The 
toiling up and down these hiUs of Moab — the 
hours of weariness which must be passed 
before you see the promised land before you — 
the many dangers to be met before you can 
say or feel that you are safe ; — Ah, these are 
great discouragements, great trials to your 
faith and patience. Nothing can stand them 
or endure through them but a heart that 



THE PKOMISING COMMENCEMENT. 99 

really loves Jesus more than all the world, 
and a spirit that willingly sacrifices itself for 
his service and glory. If this is your heart 
and spirit, then all these discouragements are 
instruments of new strength. Orpah may 
feel dispirited and weary. Kuth only loves 
the more, the more she is tried. To Orpah 
the way grows more unattractive and tedious 
as she goes on. To Euth, every step brings 
new determination, and new desire to press 
on even to the end. 

Thus we see these young travelers set out. 
They go on together. Again they said to 
Naomi, " Surely we will return with thee unto 
thy people." She was happy in not knowing 
yet the difference between them. She could 
therefore encourage both with the assurance, 
that what she had they should have, and 
where she should find a home, they also 
should participate with her. It is our place 
to encourage all who appear to set out sin- 
cerely in the Lord's service. It is not for us 
to turn any back. We stand at the Saviour's 



100 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

door, glad to receive all who are willing to 
come. He only can search the heart. We 
are not to . break the bruised reed, or to 
quench the smoking flax. We cast the 
Saviour's net, and strive to bring it to the 
shore. He only can separate the evil from 
the good, and say who are his, and who is 
holy. We give the Saviour's gracious invi- 
tations to all who hear. We beg them to 
come to the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
We say to all our youth, " Ye are bought 
with a price. Come to the Saviour's feet. 
Come to the Shepherd's tent. Come one. 
Come all. Why should any of you remain 
to perish in Moab. Come, find your home in 
the house of the Lord for ever." It is for the 
Lord alone to say, " How camest thou in 
hither, not having on a wedding garment ?" 
We urge you, then, my dear young friends, 
now to begin your journey to life eternal, to 
become at once the friends and followers of 
our glorious Lord, to give your names and 
your hearts to Christ, and to join us in our 



THE PEOMISING COMMENCEMENT. 101 

happy pilgrimage to tlie land of everlasting 
rest, to receive the wedding-garment of Hs 
perfect righteousness and glorious salvation, 
and become the sons and daughters of the 
Lord Almighty. It will be a blessed day for 
you on which you thus set out. It will be a 
perfectly sure and prosperous journey for you, 
if you sincerely enter upon it, with your heart 
determined to serve and follow the Great 
Captain of our Salvation who goes before us. 
You need never turn back to the vanities 
and sins of Moab which you thus renounce. 
Your path may be " like the shining light 
which shineth more and more unto the per- 
fect day." " The Spirit and the Bride say. 
Come ; and let him that heareth say. Come ; 
and let him that is athirst come ; and who- 
soever will, let him take of the water of life 
freely." 



r 



1\t lainfnl Stparation. 

And tb«T Hfted up thetr roitres, and w«pt again. And Oipah kteed ber 

motber-ln-Uw ; bat Bath cUre unto her. And she aakl, Behold, 
thv sister-in-law is gone back onto her people, and unto b«r gods; 
return thoa after thy sister-in-law."— Ecth, L 14, 15. 

Nothing can be more encouraging to the 
Christian heart than to see the young setting 
out to seek the Lord. It is a beautiful 
exercise and exhibition of routh. Never do 
the morning hours appear so bright or so 
promising. Grod hath said, " They that seek 
me eariy shall find me." We well know that 
some will go back who appear to set out welL 
Our past experience leads us not to hope too 
confidently in individual cases, or to expect 
too much of particular persons. But we 
know that none can gain the blessings unless 



THE PAINFUL SEPARATION. 103 

they do set out. There is a necessary begin- 
ning to a religious life, as well as to human 
life itself. There is a commencement to our 
heavenly journey as well as to our earthly 
journey. And as we can never know in the 
beginning who will persevere, or who will 
draw back, we rejoice to see them all set out. 
We can not suspect the sincerity of any, and 
therefore we encourage them and urge them 
all to press forward, and be faithful unto 
death, and not to lose the crown and prize 
for which they start. 

We have seen these youthful travelers go- 
ing with Naomi out of the place where they 
dwelt, on the way to return unto the land of 
Judah. For a time they travel together hap- 
pily and affectionately. There seems no pros- 
pect of their separation. We have no reason 
yet to suspect the integrity or the love of 
either of the two. But they come at last to 
a point, where, if they are to separate, the 
hour of separation has arrived. There is a 
line which divides Moab from Judah. Naomi 



104 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

has no question in her plans. She is certainly 
going on, whatever trials the journey may 
cost. All her hopes and interests are in Ju- 
dah. If her daughters-in-law mean to go 
with her, or if either of them has wavered in 
the determination, here is the point at which 
they must finally decide. Perhaps it is not 
easy to decide. There are many reasons and 
motives to be weighed and considered, before 
they finally decide. There are many interests 
involved in the decision. Difficulties and 
objections arise on both sides. But the de- 
cision must be made. It may be they will 
delay the decision as long as they can. If 
either of them shall hesitate to go further, 
the kindness and love of the other ^vill labor 
to postpone the final determination. But 
this final determination can not be avoided. 
It must be met at last. And this is the sub- 
ject of our present thought, the painful sepa- 
ration. Orpah at last avows the real purpose 
of her heart. She kisses her mother-in-law 
in a final farewell, and goes back to her 



THE PAINFUL SEPARATION. 105 

people and lier gods. Kuth cleaves to her, 
and goes forward with her to the land of Ju- 
dah, and to the people and the God of Israel. 
Nothing can separate her love from Naomi. 
Nothing shall be allowed to turn her back 
from seeking and serving Naomi's God. 

This is a painful, but an inevitable crisis. 
The two sisters must separate. They actually 
do separate. They have loved each other. 
They have dwelt together, rejoiced together, 
mourned together, suffered together, journeyed 
together. But they have come to a point at 
which they find they have no longer a real 
sympathy, or a common object in life, or the 
same state of mind and feeling. And these 
affectionate friends must separate. Two can 
not walk together, except they be agreed. In 
the main end and purpose of their journey — 
in the direction in which they shall journey — 
they do not agree. They must separate. 

There is just such a line in our souFs his- 
tory, my dear young friends, where a similar 
entire separation must take place. The dear- 



106 THE BICH KIXSltJLy. 

est fiiendSy tlie neurest reL^:^ :>. i argots and 
children^ sistere and biotheis, are compeQed 
to dmde, and chooae entirely different and 
oontraiT pathi^ The awakened mind sees its 
own anfolneaB and need,, acknowledges the 
darknesB and eraptmna of the Moah in which 
it has dwelt, and to which it has heloaged ; 
and trolr feek the importance and the rahie 
of thoae blessed idka and promises, which 
the Gospel proclaimsL The Holy Spirit has 
tan^it the sinner the guiltiness and wretch- 
edneas of his past life ; and has made him 
leel how much better it would be for him to 
bereaUjaChrktian^andachildofGod. He 
knowBy he sees, he feels the trath. Bat he 
does not lore the truth. He does not cmfanoe 
and chooae it for his own^ his p(Mtion for eicc 
He admowkdges his sinfolness. He mwinMi 
over his wasted life. He confesses the bless 
edness and peace which they have who lore 
and serre the Lord. He hears the ioTitation 
to him, to come and partake of the 
in the Bedeemer of the kai. 



THE PAINFUL SEPAKATION. 107 

He comes to a line where lie must either 
choose the Saviour, and go with him, or re- 
fuse him, and go back again to his rebellion 
and sin. He must choose whom he will 
serve ; for to serve one master or the other — 
either the Saviour or the destroyer — is his 
unavoidable portion. He needs no more light 
or knowledge. He fully sees the misery and 
danger of his state. He knows that he is not 
a Christian, and can not be safe in this con- 
dition of his soul. He wants now only the 
actual forgiveness and renewing of his heart 
which the Gospel oifers him. His mind is 
enlightened. His conscience is awakened. 
His judgment is convinced. And nothing 
remains but to give his heart to Jesus, and to 
say, in humble dependence on his grace, 
" Lord, I will go with thee ; thou hast the 
words of eternal life. I am thy servant ; thou 
hast loosed my bonds/' 

If he would really do this, all would be 
well. But this he refuses. His heart he can 
not, will not give to Christ. Any thing else 



108 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

he will do. But nothing else will avail him 
any thing. He will be baptized. But bap- 
tism can not save him. He will be confirmed. 
But this is not salvation. He will come to 
the table of the Lord. But there is no salva- 
tion for him there. He will fast and pray. 
He will toil and labor in his own self-right- 
eous plans. He will try to cleanse the out- 
side of the cup and the platter, and resolve to 
walk religiously in outward works. But all 
this is not salvation. He will not believe 
with his heart in the Lord Jesus. He will 
not yield his willing soul a dwelling-place for 
Christ. He will not give himself freely up, 
as a living sacrifice to the divine Saviour. He 
will not believe the precious assurances of his 
Word. He will not, can not choose to be the 
Lord's alone. This is a line he can not cross. 
And here he must separate from the people 
of God, though they have traveled long to- 
gether. They must go on, and he will not. 
They can not tarry for him, and he still hesi- 
tates to arise and go. 



THE PAINFUL SEPAKATION. 109 

Poor Orpah ! How often have I seen 
young travelers to eternity stopping just 
where you stop ; hesitating just where you hes- 
itate ; and then going back just where you go 
back. Nothing more can be done for you 
where you are. There is Moab. You have 
tried that, and found it empty and unhappy. 
There is Judah. All its provisions and offers 
are before you, and brought for your accept- 
ance. Never will you be sorry if you take 
your portion there. Here are Naomi and 
Kuth. They are journeying to the land 
which the Lord hath promised them. Soon 
they will be far from you, out of your sight. 
Then you will mourn over the separation 
which you foolishly made. 

" While you gaze, with speed surprising 
Dowu the vale they sink from sight; 
Gazing still, you see them rising. 
Like an angel, clothed in light." 

Why will you not go with them, and with 
them become an heir together of the grace of 
life ? But Orpah goes back— to her people 
and to her gods. 



110 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

It is a painful separation. " They lifted 
up their voices and wept/' Naomi and Ruth 
mourn with the sincerest pity. Many a time 
\s'ill they look back and exclaim in sorrow, 
" Oh, Orpah, Orpah ! that thou hadst been 
wise, at least in this thy day, to think of the 
things which belong unto thy peace ! But 
now they are hidden from thine eyes." The 
true children of God can not help sorrowing 
over those whom they are compelled to leave 
behind to perish in the world. Far enough 
are they from triimiphing over them in their 
lost estate. Ah, my brother ! Ah, sister ! 
Ah, my child ! will often burst from many a 
happy heart that really has no other earthly 
sorrow than this. In all their journey to the 
kingdom which they are to receive, they wiU 
caU these children of vanity to their mind. 
In secret places they will weep over them, 
and pray for them. Often from some hill- 
top on their road, will they turn back to 
look, and strain their sight to discover if they 
may not even yet be following them fay be» 



THE PAINFUL SEPARATION. Ill 

hind. It seems inscrutable, inexplicable to 
them. Why will they perish .? So simple, 
so easy, so happy, appears the salvation of 
the Gospel, that they wonder why any should 
reject its offers, or refuse their part in the 
blessings which it brings. Every step in the 
journey is pleasanter and happier than the 
last. The ways of religion seem to be the 
ways of pleasantness and peace. The path 
to ImmanueFs land becomes all the time less 
burdensome and more attractive. And often 
the thought comes over the mind, as some 
poor worldly friend and companion is remem- 
bered, "0 that they knew how great peace 
we have, who love his law.'' The most tender 
sympathy and desire for those who are still 
in the world, unpardoned and unsaved, is a 
constantly increasing influence in their hearts, 
to the end of their course. And to them it is 
a painful, heart-rending separation, which di- 
vides the children of God from the children 
of the world. 

But Naomi and Kuth do not weep alone. 



L. 



112 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

Orpah finds the separation as painful as they. 
Sad to her was the moment when they turned 
their backs upon each other, and she began 
alone the way of her return. Sad was every 
succeeding moment, as she journeyed back 
alone to her people and her gods. Naomi 
and Ruth she really loved. It was no desire 
to leave them which made her separate from 
them. And could we know her history, we 
should doubtless find in it many a sorrowful 
and weeping hour, as she thought of these 
friends of her youth, whom she was to see no 
more. 

It is the histor}' which we have seen in the 
child of the world, over and over again. You 
may renounce the Saviour, and walk with 
him no more. You may go back to Moab, 
and bury yourself in its sins and follies. But 
you ^\all find no peace or happiness there. 
Your conscience will never again allow you to 
rest. You may plunge into gratifications and 
indulgences. You may pretend to be pleased. 
But it is all pretense. Your heart is hollow, 



THE PAINFUL SEPARATIOIT. 113 

self-condemning, and sad. You may try to 
hate and oppose the truth. Tou may avoid 
the Gospel, and the church of God. You 
may resolve you will not feel, and will not 
think. But ah, it is all in vain. Many an 
hour of reflection and sorrow will come, when 
your own hypocrisy will accuse and condemn 
you. Then you will bitterly feel how mad 
and foolish has been the course you have pur- 
sued. Whether you choose a Saviour or 
oppose him, the world can never meet your 
wants, or minister peace to your soul. You 
will come to sorrow, and weep alone. You 
will come to poverty, and find no support. 
You will come to sickness, and have no com- 
forter. You will come to death, and possess 
no hope. You will look forward to eternity 
in dark despair. There will be many a time 
in your life when you will recall the hour in 
which you were almost a Christian with un- 
utterable anguish. From some distant hill 
of Moab your eye will catch a view of Naomi 
and Euth, calmly and steadfastly accomplish- 



114 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ing their journey, and your soul wiU sink 
under the sad recollection that you also 
might have been with them, and have rejoiced 
in the blessed hopes and prospects which they 
possess. Ah, never think of finding peace in 
Moab. Your oa^ti heart will condemn you. 
The world itself will dospise you. God will 
seem to frown upon you every day. All 
things will appear to be against you there. 
There is no peace there. You will feel and 
acknowledge to yourself the happiest day of 
your life was that on which you set out to 
seek the Lord ; the saddest, that on which 
you turned back to find your portion in the 
world. ^' They lifted up their voices and 
wept" again. And thus will Orpah often do 
in the remembrance of the folly of this day. 

Painful, however, as the separation may 
be, Orpah will go no further. ^' Orpah kissed 
her mother-in-law." It was the respectful 
but sad token of the inward state of her own 
mind. This was now her choice, her own 
voluntary determination. It was vain to say 



THE PAINFUL SEPARATION. 115 

she could not go. There was no other real 
difficulty than that which was within herself. 
There was a price put into her hands to get 
wisdom, but she had no heart to it. The 
inducements were not powerful enough to 
overcome her aversion to the journey. The 
object did not seem a sufficient compensation 
for the difficulties to be met. The separation 
from her friends in Moab required a sacrifice 
which she had not the heart to make. And, 
worst of all, the foul and filthy gods of Moab 
she still really preferred to the worship and 
service of the God of Israel. Orpah acts out 
her own choice and her own determination in 
a perfectly voluntary return. She certainly 
might have gone on with her companions had 
she desired it. But her heart is still in Moab, 
and to Moab she chooses to go back. 

Can you ever give any other account of a 
sinful refusal of the Saviour's love, and apos- 
tasy from his service ? "Ye will not come to 
me that ye might have life." " that there 
were such an heart in them that they would 



116 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

fear me and keep my commandments !" The 
offers and invitations of the Gospel are given 
to you with perfect freedom. The divine 
Spirit works within you to teach you the 
tmth, and to guide you in the heavenly way. 
God gives you power and strength to do iiis 
will, according to your day. But he requires 
you always to choose for yourself whom you 
will serve. Your service must be perfect 
freedom. When his children accept his 
offered mercy, and give themselves up to his 
service, it is a perfectly cheerful and volun- 
tary act. And when you refuse his grace, 
and draw back from his commandments, you 
feel that you act with perfect freedom, and 
do simply that which you desire to do. How- 
ever long you may halt between two opinions, 
you do finally choose for yourself whether you 
shall serve God or Baal. If you go back to 
the world, you choose death rather than life — 
you love darkness rather than light. You 
are therefore without excuse, and can blame 



THE PAINFUL SEPAKATION. 117 

none but yourselves when you reap the bitter 
fruits of your own sowing. 

Thus, like Orpah, you stand. The Sa- 
viour invites you. You will not come. He 
assures you of his forgiveness. You will not 
believe him. He offers you his free salvation. 
You refuse to receive it. He holds out to 
you his boundless gifts of love. You will 
not stretch forth your hands to receive 
them. He says to you, Open thy mouth and 
I will fill it. You clinch your teeth, and 
refuse to comply. He begs you. He intreats 
you. Why will you die ? You turn from 
him with your own free determination, and 
choose the death against which he so solemnly 
warns you. It may be you do all this re- 
spectfully, quietly, and with an expression 
of regret. But you do it freely, and of your 
own full accord. " Orpah kissed her mother- 
in-law." But she deserted her, and went 
" back to her people and her gods.'' Ah, 
this is a fearful responsibility. You pluck 
down ruin on your own head. You plunge 



118 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

your precious soul into a voluntary destruc- 
tion. And when we fondly hoped you would 
travel with us to our Father's house, we see 
you turn your back upon us, and join your- 
self to strangers, and go with the destroyer. 
Yet you take the whole responsibility upon 
yourself. Your final destruction is your own 
act, and the result of your own choice. " 
Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, when in 
me was thy help." Painful was the separa- 
tion. But it was still the more so on this 
account. It was Orpah's own unfaithful 
choice. 

Orpah goes ^^back to her people and her 
gods." This is a most important fact in her 
history. She does not, can not remain where 
they part. That is a place most unnatural 
and unattractive. No ; she goes back, while 
Kuth and Naomi go forward. The sepa- 
ration grows wider every hour. They are 
more and more apart, as each day traces 
their different courses. She may often think 
of them when she is among her people and 



THE PAINFUL SEPARATIOK. 119 

her gods. She may often regret that she left 
them. She may wish over and over again 
that she were with them once more. But the 
separation is final. She joins them no more. 
This is a most affecting illustration. The 
awakened and convinced mind can never 
abide at the line where a Saviour is refused. 
There is no permanency in such a state of 
mind. There is no home for the soul there. 
When once you have thus grieved the Holy 
Ghost, and driven the Lord Jesus from the 
door of your heart, and answered to his invi- 
tation, " I will not come ;" then the guiding 
Spirit leaves you, the restraining grace is 
withdrawn from you, the dews and the rain of 
the Lord's Word fall upon you in vain. 

Yes — you go back. It may be to self-indul- 
gence, dissipation, and sensual delights. It 
may be to giddiness, frivolity, and empty, 
cheerless mirth. It may be to business, covet- 
ousness, and unceasing occupation. It may be 
to infidelity, and assumed unbelief and argu- 
ment. It may be to open hostility and per- 



120 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

secution of the Gospel, and those who love it. 
It may be to absolute and dreadful hardness 
of heart. But to whatever it shall be, you 
still go back. The more conscience disturbs 
you within, still with the more determination 
you go back You resolve that Moab shall 
be your home ; its people, your people ; its 
gods, your gods. The worst opposers of the 
Gospel we ever meet are those who once were 
almost Christians. The bitterest persecutors 
of Christ are those who once set out well 
to be his servants and friends. It was a 
fallen disciple who sold Him to his enemies, 
and went and hanged himself. Sad is the 
history of this return to Moab. What you shall 
be, it does not now appear. Could we trace 
the history of many a backslider, as events 
will bring it out, he would start back with 
the exclamation, '' Is thy servant a dog, that 
he should do this thing ?" 

You fall, and ah, how deeply ! And when 
you attempt to follow out this worldly course, 
what have you gained ? What can you gain ? 



THE PAINFUL SEPAKATION. 121 

"There is no peace to the wicked/' Had 
you the whole world as your price, it would 
leave your heart just as wretched and empty 
still. It will have been better for you never 
to have known the way of truth. The very 
heathen will rise up in the judgment with 
you and condemn you. 

But you say you will hereafter return to 
Christ. You can not do this, but by his own 
Spirit. And that Spirit you have driven far 
from you. There is a morning which cometh 
on the earth when the night has passed. 
But you have chosen darkness which has no 
succeeding light. There is a spring that 
retumeth in creation, when the winter has 
gone. But you have buried the sacred seed 
of your soul's welfare beneath a winter which 
knows no coming spring. You will mourn 
at the last, when your flesh and your body 
are consumed. But it will be with a worldly 
sorrow which worketh death, and not with a 
godly sorrow which worketh repentance unto 
salvation. No, never, so far as man can say, 
6 



122 TnE RICH KINSMAN. 

will you return again. You have resisted all 
the influence you can ever receive. You have 
rejected all the light and arguments which 
will ever be bestowed. Your necessary course, 
your inevitable course, is to sink still further 
down in the path of your chosen sin, until 
God has sworn in his wTath you shall not 
enter into his rest. You go " back to your 
people and your gods." But you find no rest 
there. You doom yourself to a life of sorrow 
and a death of despair. And when the earth 
and the sea shall give up their dead, ''repro- 
bate silver shall men call you, for the Lord 
hath rejected you.'' 

Many years since I was called, late at night, 
to visit a young man, dying, at a boarding- 
house in my neighborhood. He was an officer 
in the army, returning from the Florida war. 
He was a model of youthful beauty. His 
black hair curled over a forehead like ala- 
baster, and his long eyelashes shaded eyes of 
the most brilliant hue. His countenance was 
deeply interesting. I sat beside him, and 



THE PAINFUL SEPARATION. 123 

began to tell him of the Saviour's dying love ; 
of the atoning sacrifice of the Lamb for sin- 
ners. "Don't talk to me of that," he ex- 
claimed ; " I will not hear you. . I know it all 
as well as you. I know it is all true. I was 
taught it in my youth. I loved it then. But 
I gave it up. I threw my Bible away. I 
tried to disbelieve it. I scoffed at it. And 
now it is impossible. I know it is all true. 
But it is not for me." I entreated him to 
hear me, but he would not. Vainly did I 
pour out the riches of the Eedeemer's grace 
before him. "It is not for me. I knew it 
once. But it is too late now." He became 
intensely excited. I said at last, let me pray 
for you. " No, you shall not. No man shall 
pray for me. I will not hear you." I per- 
sisted. But he covered himself over with the 
bed-clothes, and turned his back to me, and 
tried to keep out the very sound of the words. 
My effort was vain. I returned to my house 
at midnight. Early in the morning I went 
round again. But the crape suspended to the 



124 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

bell-handle told me he was gone. It was a 
sorrowful departure. The departure of a 
young apostate. 

This is the fearful prospect in your return 
with Orpah. 0, my young friends, drive the 
tempter from you. Listen to the voice of the 
Spirit. Hear the Saviour's call. See the at- 
tractive glories of Immanuel's land. Cast in 
your lot with the people of God. Come, go 
thou with us to Bethlehem, and feed upon 
that bread of God which giveth life for ever. 



VI. 



And Euth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from follow- 
ing after thee; for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou 
lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my 
God ; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried ; the 
Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. 
"VThen she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then 
she left speaking unto her. — Kuth, i. 16-18. 



We have just stood at the line which sepa- 
rates Moab from Judah. We have parted 
with Orpah, and have seen her go back to her 
people and her gods. Ah, who could look 
upon her but with distress ? How much she 
has lost ! What a sacrifice she has made ! 
How vain and foolish has been her choice ! 
How certain is it that she will find it so in 
the end ! How sad will be her future sorrow, 
coming too late ! Like poor Esau, who sold 



126 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

his birthright and lost his blessing. Though 
he cried with an exceeding bitter cry, " My 
father, hast thou but one blessing ? Bless 
me also, my father," — he found no place for 
repentance, though he sought it carefully 
with tears. 

This dividing line we find running between 
the kingdom of God and the guilty world of 
men. There is this actual, entire division 
between the children of God, and the children 
of the wicked one. They are completely sep- 
arated. You can not mingle them perma- 
nently together. You may try, like some 
little child, to make the oil and water mix, 
by unceasing shaking, but they separate again, 
and go each to their own place. The awak- 
ened mind, led by the convincing Spirit of 
God, comes up to this line of separation, and 
there must choose, and there does choose, 
whom it shall serve, and with whom it shall 

go. 

Many there, convinced, but not converted — 

feeling and knowing that they ought to fol- 



TRUE DECISIOIT. 12T 

low Jesus, but not willing to give up all 
tMngs for his sake — almost, but not alto- 
gether Christians — turn back with Orpah, 
and we see them no more. The church of 
God travels onward to its glorious home. 
They who are saved are added to it, and 
travel onward with it. They who have re- 
fused the offers of redeeming love, are left, 
and must be left, to reap the harvest they 
have chosen for themselves to sow. 

And here we stand to-day. Orpah has 
gone. We shall trace her course no longer. 
"We would gladly never see her example fol- 
lowed by others. We must now confine our- 
selves to the beautiful decision and faithful 
choice of Kuth. She stands before us, a sin- 
cere youthful convert to the Lord's service. 
She has decided the question for her soul, by 
gratefully accepting the offers of a Saviour's 
love. This question will never come up for 
her consideration again. Henceforth she is 
not her own. She belongs to Christ her Sa- 
viour. And she will glorify him in her body 



128 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

and her spirit, which are his. Surely never 
was there a more beautiful exhibition of char- 
acter. Never was there a more dignified and 
graceful display of female loveliness and fidel- 
ity. Painting, sculpture, and poetrj', have 
each in their turn selected it for their theme. 
Each may have caught some of its glow of 
attractive excellence. But, after all, the 
beauty of the original transcends their power 
of imitation. Never can we exhaust its at- 
tractions, or meditate too frequently on the 
perfection of the example which it presents. 
I beg you, my dear young friends, to think 
well of the example of this youthful convert, 
in the decision which she displays, and the 
choice which she makes. The circumstances 
in the midst of which her decision is displayed 
are peculiarly instructive to you all. 

She sets out upon an untried journey alone. 
Naomi, indeed, is with her. And her heart 
is affectionately bound to her mother-in-law. 
But Ruth has many cares, trials, and remem- 
brances of which Naomi is not conscious. To 



TKUE DECISION. 129 

Naomi, tlie journey is a well-known return. 
To Kuth, every step is untried and new. 
She was born in Moab. She knows nothing 
of Judah. All her associations and earthly 
connections are in Moab. And from them she 
goes out alone. Thus is it with every youth- 
ful convert. The experienced and aged Chris- 
tian has much acquaintance with the way in 
which you go. The new-born child of grace 
takes every step on ground unknown and 
untried. Whatever sympathy or kindness 
you may receive in the Lord's service from 
his faithful people, with whom you have 
united your lot, much of your experience is, 
after all, peculiar to yourself Your chief 
trials are within yourself, and wholly your 
own. Often will you question on the road, 
whether your case is not completely singular, 
whether any one was ever tried as you are 
tried, or suffered as you suffer. The secret 
sins which come to light in your own heart — 
the contests and difficulties which arise in 
your own tempers and mind, the temptations 
6^- 



130 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

of your own evil appetites and tlioughts, will 
often make you think yourself isolated and 
solitary in the trials which you bear. Does 
any other one so suffer in prayer, and so often 
contend without success, and so often try in 
vain to do the will of God, and feel so much 
discouraged, and so often downcast under 
manifest and unexpected failures in duty ? 
How often does this whole history come be- 
fore a pastor's mind, from the statement of 
some suffering, struggling child of God — when 
it is but a perfect counterpart of the sorrows 
and discouragements which he is bearing 
within himself ! As face answereth to face 
in the water, so does the heart of man to 
heart. This is the way in which all must go 
who would walk with God. '' This people 
shall dwell alone." Each one, be the multi- 
tude ever so great, is a hidden one with God. 
Multitudes may be traveling in the same 
direction, but the feelings and experience of 
each are solitary. ^' If thou art wise, thou 
art wise for thyself." Kutli must make her 



TRUE DECISION. 131 

decision in her own secret heart, and make it 
for herself alone. 

Her earthly friends must all be left. They 
are in Moab, from whence she takes now 
her final departure. This separation is not 
to be made without a trial of her faith. The 
more affectionate she is in her real choice, 
the more she will feel the separation from 
those whom she leaves behind. Keligion can 
not destroy our earthly affections, our interest 
in those who are dear to us in natural ties. 
Nay, it much increases the warmth and power 
of our love. The world hardens the heart. 
The Gospel makes it tender, gentle, and 
affectionate. Sin makes us selfish. True 
piety makes us disinterested, generous, and 
kind. They are the fashionable, the pros- 
perous, the gay, whose time and thoughts 
are occupied with their own. indulgences, 
gains, and gratifications, whose hearts become 
hardened against the needs and sorrows of 
their fellow-men. They who love God will 
love their earthly friends also. And in the 



132 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

very degree in which they love God, will they 
love those whom God hath connected with 
them. Ruth can not look back upon the 
many whom she has left in Moab without 
sincere and deep regret. that all her 
friends might be partakers of the same glo- 
rious hope, and would pursue with her the 
same blessed journey to seek the living and 
true God. 

This is a separation which must be made. 
You can not serve God and Mammon. You 
can not be partakers of the cup of the Lord 
and the cup of devils. We do not ask you to 
leave your earthly friends in outward relations. 
We do not ask you to fly to the desert, or to 
imprison yourselves in convents. This is the 
perversion of Satan in the scheme of Popery. 
You are required to serve the Lord in the 
condition in which he has placed you ; to 
abide in the calling wherein you are called. 
He fixes the bounds of your habitations, and 
appoints you the trials you are to bear. 
From these it is vain to fly to sisterhoods and 



TKUE DECISION. 133 

cells, as if you could better do the will of Grod 
in outward seclusion. The world and Satan 
will follow you there. The prince of evil, 
whose power is like the air, is not to be shut 
out by bolts and bars. You are to follow the 
gracious Saviour in the world by a life sepa- 
rate from the world ; with a spirit and heart 
not of the world, though in its midst. Thus 
only is your light to shine where others may 
see ; and your example to be made a blessing 
that others may follow it. 

This decision may often meet with much 
opposition from those with whom you dwell. 
Your dearest earthly connections may oppose. 
They love you. But they do not love your 
religion. Would you mix the two together ; 
would you only accompany them to the same 
excess of riot ; and, while the Sabbath led to 
the house and table of the Lord, allow the 
week to lead you to the palaces of Satan and 
the assemblies of those who have not God in 
all their thoughts, they could bear with you. 
Would you make your religion merely an out- 



134 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ward and separable form, they would be will- 
ing to yield to you. But if you take a 
decided and faithful stand on the side of 
Christ, they feel that your whole course is a 
reproof to them. To true religion, living, 
active, decided piety, *the spirit and habits 
of the worlJ are irreconcilably opposed. 
What are you to do ? What can you do, 
but faithfully and simply follow Him who 
has said, "Whosoever loveth father or 
mother more than me is not worthy of me" ? 
You must go forth with Kuth, and leave 
those who, rejecting Jesus, will not go with 
you. You must follow the Lord fully, 
though you follow him alone among your 
earthly connections ; and he will make those 
who oppose at peace with you. Be faithful 
to him, and your fidelity shall be the source 
of increased confidence and respect, even 
from the worldly who appear to reject and 
despise you. You may suffer a little at the 
outset. It is a temporary suffering. Your 
usefulness to others will be vastly increased. 



TRUE DECISION. 135 

God will give you many seals of his blessing 
on your efforts to honor him in the world in 
which he has placed you. And you will find 
a happy and blessed result in the end. 

As we trace the history of Kuth, we find 
her meeting with new trials of her faith and 
decision after she sets out alone. Orpah has 
gone. But still Naomi proves the spirit of 
Kuth. Your sister has gone back to her 
people and her gods. If you mean ever to go 
back, now is your best time to go. Think 
well of what you give up, and of what you 
may encounter in accompanying me. Much 
as I would love to have you go with me, I do 
not wish you hereafter to feel disappointed 
or grieved on my account. Eemember I have 
nothing to offer you. If you go with me, it 
must be to be a partner of my griefs and 
wants. 

Thus God often proves the young disciple 
with new trials. He sends his east wind 
upon the young trees of his planting ; not to 
weaken or destroy, but to give greater 



L, 



136 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

strength and endurance for the time to come. 
Our real conversion to Him is an hour of 
peace and blessedness ; but it is not an end 
of trial. Nay, it is the very beginning of new 
contests ; and our fidelity in the decision we 
have made is to be proved at once, and to be 
proved constantly, by new dispensations of 
the will of God. Within and without, dif- 
ficulties which we never found before arise 
upon us now. We had hoped that the day 
of temptation and trial had passed. And the 
day of fruitless sorrow and trial has passed. 
The trials we now meet are the divine system 
of blessing to us. They are the treasuring 
up of abiding benefits for our possession. 
Thus our Divine Captain strengthens and 
prepares his soldiers for their warfare and 
their victory. This is the work wliich he has 
for them to do. When we hear Naomi using 
the language of distrust to Ruth, we are 
ready to feel that she makes the burden 
unnecessarily heavy. Has she not already 
separated from her sister, and seen her go 



TR0E DECISION. 137 

back alone ? Why should not her mother- 
in-law now encourage her, and help her on- 
ward in the journey which she has chosen 
and commenced ? Why should she compel 
her to plead, as in our text, for permission to 
go with her ? " Intreat me not to leave 
thee, nor to return from following after thee." 
How affecting is such an appeal from the 
youthful traveler ! And Naomi surely felt it, 
and was now satisfied that she had brought 
out the real choice of her heart. She found 
that she was steadfastly minded to go with 
her, and she ceased to try her more. 

I would have you always remember that 
the most permanently comforting ministry is 
not that which deals the most superficially, 
but that which the most thoroughly searches 
and instructs the heart. " Examine your- 
selves whether you be in the faith." " Prove 
your own selves." " Let every man prove his 
own work, and then shall he have rejoicing 
in himself alone, and not in another." He 
will always carry his own evidences within 



138 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

himself, in Lis own experience. He will have 
the witness in himself. You need not desire 
or seek for trials. Still less need you invent 
them and prepare them for yourself as pen- 
ances and punishments. This is the darkness 
and wilfulness of superstition. The trial of 
your faith will come when God sees best, 
and in the way that he sees best. But you 
need never fear the hour of trial of divine 
appointment when it comes. Be really faith- 
ful and sincere, and God will prove your 
faith, to strengthen, settle, and stablish you 
for ever. Be truly gold, and then the refiner's 
fire will only purify and make you bright. It 
can not destroy. Be sure that the blood of 
the Lamb is really sprinkled upon the door 
of your conscience and heart ; that you have 
with a sincere choice put yourself by faith 
in the Saviour's word and power, under the 
protection of his grace and promise, and the 
destroyer will pass over you. The night of 
Egypt's darkness shall be light to you. 

This faithful decision Ruth was obliged to 



TKIJE DECISION". 139 

make in the face of backsliding in others. 
She sees Orpah go back, yet she perseveres. 
The same arguments which were sufficient to 
persuade Orpah to remain in Moab might be 
supposed adequate to move her also. But 
she goes with Naomi, notwithstanding this 
example. The observation of this unfaith- 
fulness in others is a great trial of faith. 
There will always be backsliders among those 
who profess to seek the Lord. The Apostles 
found it so. " Ye did run well," says Paul 
to the Galatians ; " what did hinder you that 
ye should not obey the truth .^" " Demas 
hath forsaken me, having loved this present 
world." The inconsistencies of false pro- 
fessors, with their Christian avowal, is a 
great burden to the young disciple. If we 
are faithful amidst their unfaithfulness, our 
course becomes still the more difficult, and 
the more beset with obstacles. The course 
which they adopt seems to mark us as un- 
necessarily peculiar. It tends to unsettle our 
own confidence in the principles which we 



140 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

have been taught. It provokes still more 
hostility against us. It comj^els us to bear 
unnecessaiy distress in our pity for them. It 
loads us -vvith sorrows which the direct service 
of our Master does not impose. It obliges 
us to appear still more separate from others, 
and cuts off much of the apparent influence 
which might be exercised by our religion. 
It has the tendency to make us selfish and 
exclusive ; to drive us away from social inter- 
course ; and to make us solitary in our spirit 
and in our habits. 

But such defections wiU always occur. 
They serve to manifest the fidelity of the real 
children of God. They increase the courage 
and the watchfulness of the people of Christ. 
They drive the true disciple to more earnest 
prayer, and more unshrinking determination 
in all things to be found faithful. How open 
and manifest these surrounding failures make 
the difference to appear between the true 
and the false professor ! When a child of 
the world comes out on the side of Christ, 



TRUE DECISION. 141 

and pursues, in the midst of the evil exam- 
ples of many, a course of simple, faithful de- 
votion to the Saviour, how it honors his truth ! 
How it strengthens his cause ! How it im- 
presses even those who oppose ! How such 
faithfulness is owned and prospered by the 
Lord, to whom it is offered, in the usefulness 
to others of the life which is adorned by it. 

Well do I remember a dear child like this, 
whose history comes to my mind as a striking 
illustration. She came under my ministry in 
the early morning of her youth, one of a fam- 
ily in which there were yet none who received 
or obeyed the Saviour's word. Beautiful in 
her person — ^lovely in her character — animated 
and commanding in her intellect, she was a 
child of peculiar attractions. But yet she was 
without Christ. The Holy Spirit awakened 
and taught her, and led her to an open and 
faithful stand for the Saviour in the family to 
which she belonged. She made her religious 
profession at the table of the Lord. At once 
the divine influence attended upon her 



142 THE RICH KINSMAX. 

youthful ministrations. She became a Sun- 
day-school . teacher. The Lord honored and 
blessed her with remarkable usefulness there. 
She entered a family of wealth and fashion as 
a private teacher. Though scarce a woman, 
but seventeen years of age, her holiness of 
character, and faithful Christian course won 
upon them all, and she became the spiritual 
teacher and religious guide of the house, 
loved, venerated by old and young. She 
united herself to the choir of the church. Her 
religion was made there a blessing, and more 
than one who knew her nowhere else, was 
given to her as a seal of her ministry there. 
TVlien her own religious stand was taken, her 
family scoffed at her course. She was com- 
pelled to bear very peculiar persecutions and 
hostility. Yet three sisters she brought suc- 
cessively to me, who traced their religious 
character to her example and exhortations. 
Attractive to our young men, they contended 
for the pleasure of attending her. Yet to all, 
on every possible occasion, she brought in 



TRUE DECISION. 143 

their walks or visits tlie important claims of 
personal religion. And more than one of 
these acknowledged, in his subsequent con- 
version, his first religious impressions to have 
been the result of her conversations. I have 
no doubt I might have traced twenty-five 
conversions directly to her influence. She 
died at the age of twenty-two. Lovely in her 
religion. Never to be forgotten by those who 
knew her. I stood at the head of her coffin, 
and addressed the assembly upon " the be- 
loved Persis who labored much in the Lord." 
Dear, dear child of God, — how precious is her 
memory to me still ! How beautiful, how 
effective was the religious course which she 
pursued ! What a privilege to a pastor are 
such seals to his ministry in the Lord ! This 
is the influence and the worth of that true 
decision which, in the very midst of the incon- 
sistencies, and backslidings, and hostility of 
others, stands firmly on the Saviour's side, 
and chooses always the path which his life- 
giving truth points out. 



144 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

But Ruth's choice must be made in the 
midst of many temptations. All the circum- 
stances which we have considered make an 
array of temptations for her of great strength. 
Solitary, away from her former friends, with 
new and increasing trials of her faith, in the 
face of the backsliding example of her sister, 
her temptations to yield were many. It is 
hard, at the best, to maintain the power and 
spirit of true religion in the heart. When 
every thing is in our favor around us, our own 
hearts will still give us contest and trouble 
enough. Many young Christians hardly know 
these outward difficulties. Parental piety 
and guardianship are on their side. Every 
thing around them in their family relations 
favors their religious course. Their home 
encourages it. Domestic prayer and example 
sustain it. They are shielded from much 
that is powerfully evil in the world aroimd. 
Their difficulties are all within themselves. 
These, indeed, they find numerous ajid pain- 
ful enough. 

. ■ ■• ■ ■ ■ ' .J-^»J. ^-J, — I- -.- . -. ' -- — : — ^ ' 



TRUE DECISION. 145 

But when to these are added the trials of 
outward hostility — the temptations of a world- 
ly family — the direct and constant efforts of 
others^ who ought to guard and guide them, 
to undermine their principles, to bewilder 
their judgments, and to lead their appetites 
and affections to sin — a scornful hostility in 
their nearest friends — ah, is it wonderful that 
they should groan in anguish under the bur- 
den which is thus thrown upon them ? Yet 
in the midst of all these, the Holy Spirit can 
enable you to be steadfast and useful. If 
you really love the Saviour, he will seem to 
you worth the endurance of all hostility for 
his sake. The more you bear for him the 
happier will you be in him. Be not afraid of 
their terror, neither be troubled. Sanctify the 
Lord God in your hearts, and he will shield 
you in the hour of temptation, and defend 
you in the day of trial. 

Your temptations will arise from your OAvn 
tastes and habits, and from the provisions 
which there are in the world around to fur- 
7 



14G THE RICH KINSMAN. 

nish the gratification for them. In a city 
like that in which our lot is cast, there is 
every provision for " the lust of the flesh, the 
lust of the eye, and the pride of life." No- 
thing but the most faithful decision will 
enable our young Christians to maintain a 
consistent course, and to adorn the Gospel 
with a becoming conversation. Here is one 
who has a delicate ear for music, and a great 
love for its more intricate and scientific har- 
mony. It is a great gift. But it is also a 
great snare. It was bestowed to honor God 
and to enjoy his praise. But the enemy 
easily prepares a temptation suited to insnare 
and pervert it. And tlie argument for the 
importance of its perfect cultivation is always 
at hand to cover the gratification. Here is 
the theatrical opera. All its agencies, atten- 
dants and influence are the agencies, atten- 
dants and influence of the theatrical drama. 
The single point of distinction is the vehicle 
of expression. But if love for music may be 
gratified at the opera, why may not love for 



TRUE DECISION. 147 

eloquence be indulged at the theater ? Yet 
I have known young Christians who can be 
tempted to taste the gratification, even at 
this cost, and sanction by their presence a 
system of worldly pleasure which excludes 
God, opposes God, blasphemes God, because 
its music is fine, and they think that they at 
least can enjoy it with impunity. But if the 
glorious Lord whom they profess to serve 
should stand in the midst of that pleasure- 
seeking throng, would they spring forth to 
meet him, crying, like Mary at the sepulcher, 
" Eabboni, my master ?" Nay, would they 
not shrink back from his gaze, and wish he 
had called them from some scene at least 
where they could behold him without shame ? 
Ah, rather would I my child had been deaf 
to every sound, than be thus insnared in sin- 
ful indulgence by the songs of syrens, in the 
palace of Satan ! 

Here is another of peculiar personal grace. 
She dances beautifully. Her foolish parents 
and friends are proud of a physical elasticity 



148 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

in which every monkey and mountebank 
transcends her. She becomes hersell' vain of 
that which is deemed a graceful accomplish- 
ment. The daughter of the Lord Almighty, 
whose body and spirit have been bought with 
the price of a Saviour's blood, for his glory, 
stoops to a competition with the heathen 
dancing-girls of Hindostan or China. Beau- 
tiful and attractive indeed is graceful carriage 
and form in the young. What can be more 
outwardly lovely to the eye of man .^ But 
ah, when it becomes thus a snare to destroy 
the soul, and God the Saviour is sacrificed 
and banished for the wildness of a polluting, 
degrading whiri in giddy frivolity — I would 
rather my child had been given to me a 
cripple from her birth than see her entangled 
in such a snare ! 

Here is one whose social powers are com- 
manding. Her conversation is brilliant and 
attractive. Her education has been polished, 
fertile, and most availing. This is a high 
and valued bestowment. Her tongue may 



TRUE DECISION. 149 

be her glory. Thus David says, " Awake up 
my glory.^' Her conversation, sanctified with 
the salt of grace, may lead many to Christ, 
and bring abounding happiness to herself. 
But ah ! when I see her ensnared by love for 
company, and the power to adorn society, 
into an unceasing round of daily and nightly 
engagements abroad ; and all serious thought 
and feeling, and habit, sacrificed to this 
passion for social life ; home forsaken, and 
family affection and happiness sold for the 
love of the foreign glitter and excitement of 
the " lovers of pleasure more than lovers of 
Grod ;" I can not be deluded by the animating 
show. No kaleidoscope like this can com- 
pensate for glory lost, for heaven cast away. 

I might enumerate still more temptations 
which press around our Kuths in the circum- 
stances in which their decision for the Lord is 
to be made. You will never find the adapted 
trial far from you. The prince with the power 
of the air will be found to follow you every 
where with suitable enticements. But there 



150 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

is no temptation from which there is not an 
appointed and adequate way for escape. Be 
faithful and you will be protected and safe. 
Be faithful and you will be useful and happy. 
Be faithful and you will be accepted and 
crowned with glory. Whatever may be your 
temptations, let me entreat you to stand 
with Kuth, in a simple, unshrinking deter- 
mination to follow the Lord fully wherever 
he shall lead you, and to cast in your lot 
with cheerfulness and gratitude among his 
people, as consistent and permanent members 
of the family and household of God. Thus 
will your path be as a shining light, which 
shineth more and more unto the perfect day. 



VII, 

%\t |ajtl|fttl €\a'ut. 

And Euth said, Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from follow- 
ing after thee; for whither thou goest I will go; and where thou 
lodgest I will lodge; thy people shall be my people, and thy God my 
God ; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried ; the 
Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. 
When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then 
she left speaking unto her. — Euxn, i. 16-18. 

What important results habitually flow 
from the most unimportant and unnoticed 
springs in the character and condition of the 
young ! You may stand at the water-shed 
of some mountain-ridge, perhaps, and bathe 
your hands in two contiguous streams that 
steal along in their unmarked course to op- 
posite sides of an immense continent. You 
may there, perhaps, see two kindred drops 
fall from the same tree, severally upon the 



152 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

waters of each. They will pursue their sepa- 
rate widening course, until one has reached 
the tropical ocean through the Mississippi, 
and the other the Polar Sea, by the St. Law- 
rence. Their separation has been final. Never 
will they meet again. 

So contiguous and so connected are often 
the young, in the time of their choice for life, 
their choice for eternity. Like kindred drops 
of equal purity and lustre, clinging to the 
same branch, two sisters may be side by side, 
agitated and trembling under the same in- 
fluence. The moment presses on when they 
must separate and fall. To remain sus- 
pended, unexhaled there, is impossible. They 
must fall. But where ? Will they gently 
drop together into the stream of holiness and 
love which flows from the throne of God and 
the Lamb, sparkling and animated, onward 
to the blissfulness, blessedness, and purity of 
life eternal ? Or shall they be parted by 
some rough outward wind which shall hurl 
one of them into the rapid, hea\-7 stream 



L.. 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 153 

of disobedience, darkness, and everlasting 
death? How mucli depends upon that ques- 
tion ! How much depends upon the single 
moment that will decide it ! What influence 
of untold importance is lodged in the last, 
final agency of determination ? None but 
God can discern and disclose the future. 
Angels and saints may stand, just as we 
stand, and watch the tears, the excitement, 
the deep concern of these awakened children 
of earth, and ask, with still deeper solemnity, 
as the hour of inevitable decision draws near. 
Will they go with Christ ? Will they choose 
the heavenly part ? Will they grasp a 
Saviour's mercy ? Will they embrace a 
Saviour's love ? Will they journey with the 
people of God through grace to glory ? Or 
will they grieve the Holy Spirit ? Will they 
reject the Comforter ? Will they cling to the 
world ? Will they yield to the tempter's 
power .? Will they join the scoffing, shout- 
ing troop of those who know not, and who 
7* 



154 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

love not God ? It is an issue and a moment 
of fearful consequence. 

You may now go forward, and start from 
the eternity which the children of God and 
the children of the evil one have severally 
attained, and trace back these two drops of 
morning dew through all the intermediate 
circumstances and histor}^ of their journey on 
the bosom of the current with which they have 
been mingled, till you find them again glitter- 
ing side by side, on the same branch, in all 
the beauty of their youthful day. At no 
point on their diverging journey were they 
likely to mingle into one again. Each day 
made their separation more hopeless and more 
entire. With what feeling of the importance 
of their early morning choice do you con- 
template them now ! How immense appears 
the responsibility and the result of their de- 
cision ! How just and valued seems the 
earnestness which would persuade them both 
freely to give themselves to the Saviour's 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 155 

call, and to unite with him in an everlasting 
covenant never to be forgotten ! 

Thus Euth and Orpah hung trembling and 
glistening together by Naomi's side. The 
hour of their decision came. It was the hour 
of their separation for ever. This decision, 
important as it was, was at last a moment — a 
thought — a single word — " I will, I will not" 
— a conversion — a refusal of conversion — a 
choice — a separation, though they were yet 
together — a single step apart — and then a 
progressive journey, which carried each of 
them forward, with no return. It is habit- 
ually so. And the history of the young 
around the Christian Church is but a multi- 
plying lens which gives us Kuths and Orpahs 
in every generation and in every land. But 
we come now to consider simply Kuth's faith- 
ful choice. ^' Entreat me not to leave thee, 
or to return from following after thee ; for 
whither thou goest, I will go ; and where thou 
lodgest I will lodge ; thy people shall be my 
people, and thy God my God ; where thou 



156 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

diest will I die, and there will I be buried ; 
the Lord do so to me, and more also, if aught 
but death part thee and me." How many- 
hearts have been moved, and how many eyes 
have dropped the involuntary tear over this 
beautiful illustration of youthful fidelity and 
loveliness ! The dear child of grace seems to 
be living here before us. We hear her gentle 
filial voice, as she pleads her permission to go 
with Naomi among the people of the living 
God. Her faithful choice remains a per- 
manent, an everlasting pattern to all who 
hear the Gospel in their youth, in every age 
of the Church of God. Let us consider it. 

It was an humble choice. She has nothing 
to ofier but herself. She afiects not to brins: 
any thing which can make her of any worth. 
A poor, wandering daughter of Moab, she asks 
to be allowed to go, if it be only as a beggar, 
and share with Naomi the lot which might be 
prepared for her. She has no claim to pre- 
sent. She fears she may be a burden and 
unwelcome. She pleads only for permission 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 157 

to be to I^aomi in her future life all tliat affec- 
tion and fidelity can make her. She has no- 
thing else to offer. 

How beautiful is this illustration ! It mat- 
ters not in what condition of life the child of 
earth was born, when the Holy Spirit brings 
her heart to Jesus, she comes as a beggar. 
Her own sinfulness has been made to appear. 
The secret follies and willfulness of her life 
and temper arise to her view. The very life of 
ingratitude and carelessness which appeared 
to have no guilt in her eyes, or in the eyes of 
others, now seems marked with wicked neg- 
lect of Grod in every step. It is not what she 
has done that grieves her, as what she has 
been. Not a stain of outward wrong may 
have marked her course in the view of those 
who knew her best. Parents and sisters may 
say she has been always the light and comfort 
of the household. They are ready to think 
she has never sinned. And yet she feels the 
burden of guilt, and weeps, and prays over 
the remembrance of her foolish, wasted life. 



158 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

The preciousness of the ftiithful saying, that 
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, is 
her only comfort. The assurance that the 
Son of Man has come to seek and to save that 
which was lost, is her single encouragement 
and support. Did he ask one deed of excel- 
lence, she could not produce it. Should he 
demand a single hour without sin, she feels 
that she would search for it in vain. She has 
not a single provision for the journey which 
she desires to undertake. " No," she says ; " I 
stand here a beggar, on the boundary of Im- 
manueFs land. As a beggar, will he receive 
me ? Will he suffer me to come to him with 
nothing ? In all the rags of my own corrupt 
and wasted nature ? Lord, I perish. Do not 
cast me off. Kefuse not my humble entreaty 
and plea." But in all this conscious unwor- 
thiness, she chooses Christ as her portion and 
Lord. Yes, with her whole heart. If he will 
accept her, receive her, own her, permit her 
to go with him just as she is, then most gladly 
will she cast her lot with his, and from this 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 159 

day be for him all that she can be made 
through the riches of his grace. Like Kuth, 
she humbly pleads, " Entreat me not to leave 
thee." Suffer me to go with thee, and par- 
take with thy people the inheritance which 
thou hast provided for them. 

It was an affectionate choice. When did 
real love ever speak from the heart more 
truly and manifestly than in her ? It was 
personal, tender affection for ISTaomi. For 
her and with her Kuth was willing to do, or 
to be, any thing that God should appoint. 
What tender individuality is there in her 
appeal ! " Entreat me not to leave tJieeJ' 
She can leave Moab without regret. She can 
part with her earthly friends without sorrow, 
gladly as she would have them go with her. 
But she can not leave Naomi. She will not 
be enticed away, or driven back from Judah. 
Her heart is with Naomi. Her desires all 
reach forward to the land to which Naomi 
journeys, and thither, on whatever terms, she 
must and she will go. 



160 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

It is just such a choice to which the Saviour 
would lead you all. '' My daughter, give me 
thy heart/' is his tender appeal to you. And 
our youthful, spiritual traveler freely and 
affectionately responds, ^' I give my heart to 
thee ; thy face will I seek ; hide not thy face 
from me." This is her own affectionate 
choice. It is not the stand of duty merely, 
of obligation, of fear, of necessity. It is not 
the mere remedy and recourse of disappoint- 
ment and weariness. It is not the constrained 
denial of self, of appetite, and loved indul- 
gence. It is not an involuntary, sorrowful 
rehnquishment of a world that was loved as 
long as it bloomed, and has been forsaken 
only because it has faded. No. The world 
was never brighter, happier, or more promis- 
ing to her than it now is. It is not the loss 
of the past which she would supply. It is 
the perception of something infinitely more 
precious, which she would attain. Her choice 
is of the Saviour, because she really loves him. 
Infinite attractions are gathered around him. 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 161 

His service seems to her all that she can desire. 
Fellowship with Christ, union with him, ap- 
pears before her as the supreme blessedness 
of her possible condition. Could she be only 
always with him, and for ever like him, she 
would desire nothing beside. 

She has no excellence in herself ; nothing 
but sin. She feels that she has no sacrifice 
to make in yielding to Ms will. Yet she 
comes to him with entire and ajBfectionate 
freedom of choice. She selects him as her 
everlasting friend, whatever may be the lot 
which he shall appoint for her. Her grateful 
heart declares, as she sits down at his feet, 
" Here will I dwell, and this shall be my her- 
itage for ever, for it is the very joy of my 
heart." The blessedness of complete forgive- 
ness which he bestows — the privilege of per- 
fect peace with him — of joyful hope in him, 
of living, and even suffering for him, seems to 
her to be clothed with unspeakable attrac- 
tions. And as freely as the falling drop min- 
gles with the current in which it floats, does 



162 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

her affectionate heart embrace the Saviour, 
and resolve to go with him. This is no iiincy 
or enthusiasm. It is the conscious, undeni- 
able state of the young Christian's heart. 
She could not say with truth that she has 
any other choice, or any hesitation in making 
this. The attractions of Moab are nothing. 
The fears of the journey she undertakes are 
nothing. Her heart is fixed, and she will 
never reconsider or reverse the decision it has 
made. 

A faithful child of God, like Ruth, thus 
spoke to me, in a note \NTitten at this crisis 
of her life : ''I now write to tell you that I 
do not hesitate, do not doubt, do not despond, 
do not fear. I have made a decided, deliber- 
ate choice of the Saviour for my portion, and 
am determined to serve him faithfully and 
affectionately, and to be guided by him alone. 
And I would express my deep gratitude for 
the encouragement you gave me, and for the 
peace of mind your words have imparted — a 
peace which I had almost feared would never 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 163 

more be mine." Such was Kuth's affectionate 
choice. Such an affectionate choice of the Lord 
for your Grod would I urge you all to make. 

Euth's choice was an entire one. There 
was no hesitation in her mind about the de- 
cision she should make. She manifested no 
remaining love for Moab, and no lingering 
desire to carry something of Moab with her. 
There seemed but one side of the question as 
it was presented to her mind. The contrasted 
claim was nothing. Without the least reserva- 
tion, with no conditions or terms upon which 
she should consent to yield — she freely gave 
herself up to Naomi's direction and plans. 
''■ Whither thou goest I will go : where thou 
lodgest I will lodge. Thy people shall be my 
people, and thy God, my God." 

" Tell me not of gain or loss, 

Ease, enjoyment, pomp, or power, 
Welcome, poverty and cross. 

Shame, reproach, affliction's hour." 

This was her simple, single stand. And it 
was this entire choice which made the happi- 



164 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ness of her future course. She made the ex- 
change, the transfer of herself, freely, com- 
pletely, and without reserve. And there was 
nothing left to turn her back to Moab in her 
possible experience hereafter. 

When the choice of a Saviour is thus entire, 
how completely it opens the wav for future 
duty ! How it settles all future discussions 
and difficulties with a single decision ! ^* Lord, 
what wilt thou have me to do ?" said the 
awakened Saul, as he lay prostrate at the Sa- 
vour's feet. And what a question it was ! 
I am ready to do any thing, to be any thing, 
to bear any thing for thee, which thou shalt 
appoint, or to which thou shalt please to lead 
me. Show me what I have to do. The Sa- 
viour's answer, through Ananias, was, "I 
will show him how great things he must suffer 
for my sake." The secret of happiness in re- 
ligion is just here. Making it the entire, sin- 
gle choice of the heart. Paul afterward 
could say, '' This one thing I do." My mind, 
my thoughts, my desires, my efforts, are all 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 165 

devoted to this single object. I "forget the 
things which are behind. I reach forward to 
the things which are before. I press toward 
the mark, for the prize of my high calling in 
Christ Jesus." The troubles and difficulties in 
the Saviour's service habitually arise from the 
vain attempt to serve two masters. Never 
will you be able to make your following of 
Christ consistent with following the world. 
" The friendship of the world is enmity with 
God. Whosoever will be the friend of the 
world, is the enemy of God." This testimony 
is just as true in our day as when it was first 
written. 

The true convert makes a complete surren- 
der of herself to the Lord. " None but 
Christ/' is the language of her youthful 
heart. The service of Christ only, the favor 
of Christ only, the honor of Christ only, the 
merit and righteousness of Christ only, the 
presence of Christ only, is the simple, entire 
choice of her soul. This furnishes an answer 
to every temptation, a reply to every entice- 



166 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ment, a solution of every difficulty. I have 
given myself to the Lord in an everlasting 
covenant that shall never be forgotten. To 
whom else shall I go ? He has the words of 
eternal life. 

"This, the God whom I adore, 
This Redeemer shall be mine; 
Earth can fill my soul no more, 
Every idol I resign." 

How simple and easy, then, becomes the 
path of life. There is but one will to con- 
sult, but one Lord to follow, but one master 
to serve, but one object to pursue. The 
question is never. Where will he lead me ? or 
What will he require of me ? He can not 
lead me wrong. He can make no demand 
which is not right, and none to which I am 
not already resolved simply to yield. Wher- 
ever he shall lead me, by his grace I am 
resolved to follow : 

" ' Follow me I' I know thy voice, 
Jesus, Lord, thy steps I see ; 
Now I take thy yoke by choice, 
Light's thy burden, Lord, to mc." 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 167 

All things must work together for good to 
me if I love him. I desire that his glory may 
be dearer to me than my life. I would count 
all things but loss, of no worth, for his sake. 

Ah, my dear young friends, this sim- 
plicity of choice is most important for your 
happiness. Every thing in your prospect 
of comfort and success in the service of your 
gracious Saviour depends upon it. Let there 
be no reserves in your covenant with him. 
Make a complete gift of yourself to Jesus 
your Lord. Determine henceforth to have 
no other master but him, and to consult no 
other will than his. He has much for you to 
do that you know not yet ; and much, per- 
haps, for you to bear, that you would shrink 
from now. But his grace is sufficient for 
you. You can do all things if Christ shall 
strengthen you. And Avhatever you may be 
required to do or suffer for him, he can make 
to work for your salvation and your increased 
happiness in his service. Let it be your 
single, entire choice to glorify and honor him 



168 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

according to his own direction and wisdom. 
This will be peace and blessedness for you 
here and for ever. 

Ruth's choice was a determined choice. 
Lovely and gentle as she appears, and hum- 
bly and affectionately as she pleads, there 
was amazing dignity and firmness in her 
stand. While you listen to her protestation 
and appeal, you can not but feel that the 
power of Moab is finally broken. Useless will 
be all attempts to lead her back to its idol- 
atry or its crimes. There is wonderful 
strength in this simplicity of determination. 
Her position, as she stands before us, amounts 
almost to the sublime. Her very youth and 
feebleness enhance the grandeur of the scene. 
The Christian Church has delighted to num- 
ber the examples of such feeble, faithful 
daughters of the Lord Almighty, who out of 
weakness have been made strong, and have 
overcome by their fidelity the armies of the 
aliens. God the Saviour has rejoiced to per- 
fect his praise out of the mouths of the babes 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 169 

and sucklings of his heavenly family. Some 
of the most triumphant and remarkable 
deaths in the history of early martyrdom for 
Christ are of young and tender virgins who 
calmly and boldly endured every conceivable 
torture without a moment's faltering, "I 
am a Christian," was their gentle but firm 
reply to every solicitation to recant, until, 
worn out with suffering, they departed to be 
with Christ. You may never be called to 
the same sorrows. But you will be always 
summoned to the same decision. Jesus will 
always require from you the same unshrink- 
ing, determined choice. 

How effective, how useful is the young 
Christian who carries out this determined 
spirit ! She shines like a light in a dark 
place. The Church delights in her example. 
The worldly may deride. The carnal and 
giddy may scoff, and affect to ridicule and 
despise her. They may call her enthusiastic, 
fanatical, ascetic, priest-ridden. But she has 
only to hold on her way to wax stronger and 

8 



170 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

stronger. She stops not to listen, or to argue, 
or to reply. She presses on in her chosen 
path, without casting one longing glance 
behind. It is not far that this swarm of 
buzzincr, bitinor insects follow her on her road. 
They live in that low marsh which lukewarm 
profession cultivates on the borders of true 
religion ; where the dividing line is nin, 
where Ruth and Orpah part. They fly but a 
little distance from their native swamp. Be 
faithful and press on quickly, boldly, and you 
will soon leave them far behind. 

While your mind is unsettled, hesitating, 
considering, doubting, the enemy may be- 
wilder you much. He knows not the Lord's 
purposes concerning you. He hopes yet to 
cast down one whom the Lord has loved. 
His agents and agencies are crowding around 
you, innumerable and annoving. Your own 
mind is like a vessel yet upon the ocean, 
which may be captured, perhaps, by his 
power, and carried to some other port as a 
prize for his possession. But when you have 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 171 

made an open^ sincere^ and determined choice 
of Jesus as your master — when you have 
freely yielded your heart to him as your 
Saviour — you have entered a harbor of rest. 
You are held by an anchor sure and steadfast. 
And the enemy molests you in these attacks 
no more. Soon worldly inducements will 
cease. Worldly invitations will be withheld. 
Worldly acquaintance will forget. And 
whether the sea has closed over you in death, 
or the harbor has received you in security, 
becomes to them a matter of indifference. 
They cease to tempt in their mere neglect of 
you, and unless their bitterness arises to pe- 
culiar hostility to your religion, they will not 
take the trouble of persecution. You are 
thus soon forgotten by the world, and left in 
comparative peace. Paul says, " I am cruci- 
fied unto the world, and the world is crucified 
unto me." That is, we have finally parted. 
Our reciprocal opinions of each other are of 
no mutual consequence. What they think 
of me I care not. "None of these things 



172 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

move me ; neither count I my life dear unto 
myself, so that I may finish my course with 
joy, and testify the Gospel of the grace of 
God." 

This walk in the path of abiding peace 
depends on the fidelity and determination of 
your early stand. Great peace have they 
who really love the law and will of God, and 
nothing shall ofi'end them. The most im- 
happy persons, perhaps, on earth, as well the 
least influential, and the most despised, are 
they who thus try to please men ; either to 
propitiate the world from fear, or to hold on 
upon it from appetite. They build their 
cabins on the border. They determine there 
to live, really committed to neither party, 
and sacrificing none of the advantages which 
they imagine they may derive from both. 
Let me entreat you to renounce this whole 
lukewarm set, and move far ofi" from the 
worldly territory which they inhabit. Like 
Ruth, make your choice of Jesus as your 
Lord, single, determined, final. Depend 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 173 

upon his grace. Pray for Ms help. Lean 
upon his arm. And let the language of your 
heart ever be, " Where thou lodgest I will 
lodge ; whither thou goest, I will go ; where 
thou diest, I will die ; and there will I be 
buried." Let nothing separate me from thy 
love, and leave me not, neither forsake me, 
God of my salvation. 

Kuth's choice was an instant choice. She 
asked no time for consideration. Her mind 
was made up. Her decision was settled. 
She staggered not in unbelief, nor wavered 
amidst conflicting motives. How earnestly 
she expressed this settled purpose ! " Entreat 
me not to leave thee.'' I am thoroughly 
resolved to go with thee, whatever the jour- 
ney may cost me, or require of me. I have 
already determined every question connected 
with the solemn purpose and plan which I 
have formed. I do not, and will not again 
regard it as a question with whom I shall 
go. I am finally determined to go with 
thee. 



174 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

There is much that is animating in the 
frankness and squareness of this instant decis- 
ion. Why should we ever hesitate a moment 
in our acceptance of the Saviour's offers ? 
Surely when the Lord sets before us life and 
death, a blessing and a curse, and bids us 
choose for ourselves which we will have, we 
require no time for consideration. When our 
minds are taught, our conscience is awakened, 
and our judgment convinced, then eYevy mo- 
ment's delay in accepting the pardoning mer- 
cy of the Lord, and in following the renewing 
guidance of his Holy Spirit, is but increased 
rebellion. We can not require of him further 
light, or information, or conviction. It has 
become a mere question of personal, voluntary 
choice. This can never be settled, but by our 
own personal decision and act. If it is to be 
settled, it must be finally, in a single moment 
of time. Why should that moment be de- 
layed ? Why should that frank and affec- 
tionate choice be postponed ? Yet I have 
known young persons as well as old ones 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 175 

remain for months and sometimes for years 
in this convinced and halting state. They 
would wee-p in bitterness over the remem- 
brance of their sin. But they could not be 
persuaded to believe the divine assurance of 
the complete fullness of pardoning love. The 
simple testimonies, " I have blotted out thy 
transgressions ; I will no more remember thy 
sins ; the Lord hath put away thy sin ; the 
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth as from all 
sin ;" they could not, would not receive. And 
in the pride and hardness of their own hearts, 
they continued to refuse the gracious offers 
and commands of the Gospel, waiting for 
something more to be done for them. This 
is all but continued rebellion and increasing 
guilt. I pray you, my dear young friends, 
avoid it. Eeject the enemy's temptation 
which would lead you to it. Make an instant 
choice. Say " "When thou sayest, Seek ye my 
face, my heart replies. Thy face. Lord, will I 
seek.'' 
I knew a gay and worldly youth, engaged 



176 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

in the business and frivolities of an earthly, 
pleasure-seeking life ; careless of his soul, and 
thoughtless of God. By a Divine call he was 
awakened on one morning before he rose, to re- 
flect upon his wasted, sinful life. He saw at 
once his guilt, his folly, his danger. Deeply 
impressed with the view, he did not hesitate 
a moment. He sprang from his bed, kneeled 
down upon the floor, and made an instant, 
solemn dedication of himself to God. He 
went down to his business another man. Old 
things had passed away. All things had be- 
come new. His heart, his tastes, his habits, 
his purposes were all changed. Never did he 
turn back from that hour. He lived to be 
made extensively useful in the ministry of 
the Gospel, by the Lord who had called him 
in that morning hour, and to whose voice he 
obediently listened as soon as it was heard. 
Doubts, fears, anxieties never followed him. 
Karely have I known a happier course than 
he pursued, resulting from that instant choice 
of the Saviour as his Ruler and his Portion. 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 177 

Why should any of you hesitate ? All the 
arguments of truth, of interest, of duty, of 
happiness, are on one side. The privileges of 
the Gospel will not tarry your vain delay. 
The Holy Spirit will not wait to strive with 
your rebellious hesitation. Arise at once, 
and cast in your lot with Christ, and with his 
people, and enter to-day upon your final, glo- 
rious journey to a heavenly land. Never, 
never will you look back again with regret 
upon the Moab you leave. Never, never wiU 
you mourn over the choice your heart has 
made. 

When Kuth's faithful choice was thus made, 
she was allowed to go on her way in peace. 
" When Naomi saw that she was steadfastly 
minded to go with her, then she left speaking 
unto her." The young convert's sincerity of 
heart was now proved. The firmness and 
reality of her purpose could not be doubted. 
There was no necessity or reason for further 
examination of her motives, or further trial 
of her steadfastness of spirit. There she 



178 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

stood, acknowledged, honored, and accepted 
as a chosen traveler for Immanuers land. No 
further obstacle was interposed. 

My young friends, you little know how 
much of the character and success of your 
whole religious life depend upon the charac- 
ter of your first choice. If this is simple and 
distinct, that will be clear, uniform, and hap- 
py. As you have received Christ Jesus the 
Lord, so will you walk in him. You need 
have no doubts to harass, and no fears to dis- 
turb you. Your path may be a path of pleas- 
antness and peace. Your light may shine 
yet more and more unto the perfect day. 
But if your choice be hesitating and half- 
hearted, so will be your whole course. Your 
mind will be clouded with difficulties, and 
your way harassed with temptations and foes. 
A skeptical, questioning spirit is a great in- 
firmity, and a great affliction. Take the 
Word of God as infallible truth, and believe 
it, and live upon it. Make it your daily ob- 
ject to understand it more clearly, and to 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 179 

gain more real enjoyment of its promises and 
hopes. Take the gracious Saviour as your 
chosen friend, your conscious and beloved 
friend. Let no doubt of his love be cherished 
— no question of his tender kindness to you 
ever be allowed. Go on your heavenward 
journey, with the constant assurance that he 
who hath loved you will love you to the end, 
and with an everlasting love. But this whole 
character of your Christian life will depend 
upon the nature of its beginning. Be sure, 
therefore, to start right. Make RutFs hum- 
ble, affectionate, entire, determined, instant 
choice of a Saviour's love, and a Saviour's 
•service. At once embrace his promises, and 
rejoice to be permitted to belong to him. 
Thus your whole journey shall be accom- 
plished, under the guidance of his Holy Spi- 
rit, with the same steadfast mind, and the 
same single, happy purpose with which he has 
enabled you to undertake it. 

Such young Christians as these require from 
us but little watching. They are useful, in- 



180 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

fluential, and happy — the crown and joy of 
the pastors to whom they have been given. 
We never find them among the backsliders or 
wanderers into the world of surrounding wick- 
edness. We have no fears or anxieties lest 
they will rush into the mad idolatries and 
unsatisfying self-righteousness of encroaching 
Popery. By them the open Gospel is pro- 
claimed. By them the Gospel is made attract- 
ive. By them the Saviour is honored. By 
them the souls of men are saved. They are 
the ones whom the Lord follows with his 
constant blessing. Their trumpet, neither in 
their voice or their example, ever gives an 
uncertain sound. 

They are a happy, cheerful flock. The 
happiness of the family flows from them. 
They are the consolers of the mourning, the 
comforters of the afflicted. They are the 
friends and guides of the penitent, and the 
teachers of the ignorant. The awakened seek 
to them to be led to Clirist. The Church 
rejoices in them. The world itself respects 



THE FAITHFUL CHOICE. 181 

and reveres them. Jesus loves them, and is 
satisfied in them. Heaven watches them 
with delight, and receives them with joy. 
And before a Father's throne they stand 
accepted, triumphant in Jesus their Lord, 
with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 



VIII. 

So they two went until they came to Bethlehem. And it came to pass 
when they were come to Bethlehem, that all the city was moved about 
them, and they said. Is tliis Naomi? And she said unto them, Call 
me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Alnii;;hty hath dealt very bit- 
terly with me. I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home 
again empty ; why then call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath tes- 
tified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me ? — llcxii, i. 19-22. 

We have now to trace the journey of Nao- 
mi and Ruth. They go to Judah and Beth- 
lehem with very different feelings, though 
they travel together. To Naomi the journey 
is full of remembrances of the past. To Ruth 
it presents nothing but hopes of the future. 
Naomi returns with the deepest humiliation, 
feeling her own unworthiness, and doubting 
as to what may be her lot when she shall 
reach her old forsaken home. Ruth feels her 



THE backslider's RETURN. 183 

unworthiness, but to her there is no special 
reason for depression or doubt. She looks 
forward without fear — ^with that confidence in 
perfect love which casts out all fear. Her 
joy in anticipation of her new and chosen 
home allows no torment to interpose. Naomi 
is a backslider returning to a neglected and 
forsaken Saviour. Kuth is a young convert, 
rejoicing in being first brought to know and 
experience his truth and love. Though these 
two classes travel the same road, their indi- 
vidual emotions are very separate. We will 
consider them separately. And for our pres- 
ent subject we have before us the Backslider's 
Eeturn. 

But we may well ask in the beginning, 
What is backsliding ? We use the word so 
frequently that it is quite important to have 
a distinct idea connected with it. I answer 
you. Backsliding is not apostasy. Apostasy 
is a deliberate and voluntary turning away 
from Christ — ^renouncing his service and his 
authority. The condition of the apostate is 



184 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

the worst of all conditions. " The last state 
of that man is worse than the first." " It 
had been better for them not to have known 
the way of righteousness, than after they have 
known it, to turn from the holy command- 
ment delivered unto them.'' " There remain- 
eth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain 
fearful looking for of judgment and fiery in- 
dignation which shall devour the adversaries." 
We can have no hope of the apostate's return. 
But we can not say of any living individual 
that he is such an apostate — God only know- 
ing his heart — and it is by God's own judg- 
ment that he must stand. We are to invite 
all, and to encourage all to turn from their 
sin and receive the Saviour's invitation and 
promises of forgiveness. But backshding and 
apostasy are very difi*erent. Judas was an 
apostate, and he found no place for real re- 
pentance, though he mourned bitterly over 
his sin. Peter was a backslider, and obtained 
forgiveness and divine restoration, though with 
bitterness and grief The Lord looked upon 



THE BACKSLIDEK'S RETURN. 185 

Judas, and said, " Good were it for that man 
if he had not been born." The Lord also 
looked upon Peter and said, " Simon, Simon, 
Satan hath desired to have you, that he may- 
sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for 
thee, that thy faith fail not : when thou art 
converted strengthen thy brethren/'' How 
different were these two addresses ! Thus 
different are apostasy and backsliding. 

Against backsliding the Apostle warns you 
when he says, " Therefore we ought to give 
the more earnest heed to the things which we 
have heard, lest at any time we should let 
them slip." Your Christian course is like 
the climbing a slippery steep. If you are 
careless, trifling, looking around, losing your 
hold of the ground which you have already 
attained, you will surely slip. You will slide 
back. You will fall. You would fall finally, 
and to the very bottom, if the gracious Lord 
did not hold you, that you perish not. You 
slide back from your own early profession. 
When you came out and ' separated your- 



L. 



186 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

self from the world, it was to be the Lord*s 
alone, and to walk in the world worthy 
of his high calling. This you promised, 
and from this you have fallen and slidden 
back. You slide back from your own early 
experience. How earnest and single was 
your heart in the Lord's service when you 
first entered upon it ! It was drawing water 
with joy out of the wells of salvation. But you 
let this slip. And now your heart and affec- 
tions are cold and dull, and hard to be 
awakened and aroused. You have slidden 
back from your first love. You slide back 
from the just expectations of the Church. 
You took the Lord's covenant upon you in 
their midst. They had the right to expect 
that your influence, and example, and efforts, 
would always be a light to others, a reproof 
to the world, an honor to Christ. But your 
careless walk has let this high standard slip. 
You have slidden back from these fair expec- 
tations. And the Church can not look upon 
you now without sorrow, and mortification, 



THE backslider's RETURN. 187 

and despondency. You slide back from the 
Saviour's just demand upon you. He had a 
right to look to you as wholly his. It was 
your own offer. Your own act of choice. 
You promised to serve and follow him alone. 
But you have slid den back from this. Jesus 
says, " What shall I do unto thee ? Your 
goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the 
early dew it goeth away." 

This is backsliding. It is the result of 
carelessness and unwatchfulness in your 
Christian course. It may be more or less. 
The soul may be still alive to Grod. Still 
looking to God, however feebly. You have 
slidden back, but not turned back. Perhaps 
you are still sliding back, losing ground con- 
stantly, gaining nothing. Ah, if you are not 
arrested and stopped, the loss will be dread- 
ful, final. Even as it is, the loss to you is 
great. The Saviour's light is clouded from 
you. Prayer has become cold, formal, and 
much neglected. The Bible is not the lamp 
to your feet, and sweeter to your taste than 



188 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

honey or the honey-comb. Grace within you 
is dull and smoldering, with hardly a spark 
of light. Your outward life is earthly, not 
spiritual — unsteady, unedifying. Your own 
heart is unhappy and without peace. Much 
have you already lost. Consider what you 
might have been if you had been faithful. 
See what you are because you have been 
unfaithful. Strengthen the things which 
remain, that are ready to die. You are not 
an apostate. You are not a castaway. But 
continued backsliding will be just as ruinous. 
Though you do not turn back deliberately, 
you may fall back never to arise. " See 
whence thou art iiillen, and repent, and do 
thy first works." 

The backsHder may return. Blessed, in- 
deed, is this privilege to him. '* The just 
falleth seven times and riseth up again." God 
will not protect you from all the sorrows which 
your own follies and carelessness have pro- 
duced. He will make your wickedness to cor- 
rect you, and your backsliding to reprove you. 



THE backslider's RETURN. 189 

SO that you may know and see that it is an evil 
and a bitter thing to have forsaken the Lord 
your God. The present fruits of suffering 
which your sins must bear, you will be obliged 
to gather, even though God shall graciously 
restore you at the last. We are not surprised 
when we see you fall, however we mourn over 
it. We weU know the sadness of this sliding 
back from God. " There is not a just man 
on earth that doeth good and sinneth not." 
That you shall never slip, we can not expect. 
The Scriptures are full of the histories of 
those who, though they were really the 
servants of God, fell into sin. These his- 
tories are written for our admonition, that 
while we think we stand we may take heed 
lest we fall. No man can say, I have cleansed 
myself from mine iniquity. Noah was a just 
man, and perfect in his generation, and 
walked with God. Yet Noah fell. Abraham 
was the father of the faithful. Yet Abra- 
ham fell. Lot was a righteous man, and his 
righteous soul was vexed from day to day 



190 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

with the unlawful deeds of men. Yet Lot 
fell. David was beloved of God, the man 
after God's own heart. Yet David fell. And 
who that has ever professed to love the Lord, 
has not in many things slidden back, and 
come short of the mark of his high calling ? 
We are not to be surprised or discouraged 
at this. You may find yourself to have 
wandered far. Cast not away your con- 
fidence, which hath great recompense of re- 
ward ; but return to the Lord from whom 
you have wandered. 

Naomi had wandered. But Naomi might 
return. God had not cast her away. He 
will never cast away tliose who truly love 
him. He calls them back again to true 
repentance. He heals their backslidings and 
loves them freely. Then, like Peter, they 
may strengthen their brethren. They have 
an experience of human infirmity which they 
had not before. They know the dangers and 
temptations which surround the Cliristian's 
path. They can comfort others with the 



I 



THE backslider's RETURN. 191 

consolations wherewith they are comforted of 
Grod. What an encouraging thought is this 
to the backslider ! You need not perish. 
You may come back. You may recover the 
ground you have lost. Arise at once, the 
Master calls you. KeturUj and he will heal 
you. He will refresh you with new manifest- 
ations of his love, his restoring mercy. If 
you feel a desire to come back, the desire is 
his gift. He thus invites and encourages 
you. Let nothing separate you from his 
offered mercy, or prevent your acceptance of 
his gracious invitations. 

"Return, wanderer, return, 

And seek thy injured Father's face; 

These new desires which in thee burn 

Were kindled by redeeming grace. 

" Return, O wanderer, return, 

The Saviour bids thy spirit live ; 
Go to his feet, and grateful learn 
How freely Jesus can forgive. 

"Return, O wanderer, return. 

And wipe away the frequent tear; 
'Tis Jesus says, 'no longer mourn,' 
'Tis God who bids thee cease to fear." 



192 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

But the backslider must return with total 
self-renunciation. Thus Naomi even re- 
nounces her right to her former name. 
" Call me not Naomi. Call me Mara ; for 
the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with 
me." They said, " Is this Naomi ?" Yes, 
I was Naomi when I was contented and 
happy in the house, and among the people 
of God. I was Naomi when we took sweet 
counsel together, and walked to the house 
of God in company. 

"What peaceful hours I once enjoyed^ 
How sweet their memory still ! 
But they have left an aching void 
The world can never fill." 

How foolish was I, and like a beast before 
him, thus to wander from his holy ways ! 
Call me not Naomi now. I have no right to 
that name. All was pleasant then. But the 
remembrance is bitten^ess now. Call me 
Mara. Let me come back as the poorest of 
the poor, sorrowful, and self-condemned. 

The backslider feels no claim to a former 



THE backslider's RETURN. 193 

Christian character. He has no right to re- 
turn to God. God might justly have cut him 
off and cast him away. He could have had 
no ground for complaint if he had been 
finally rejected when he thus voluntarily 
disobeyed. The very permission to return is 
a great mercy, . 

" Yet, sovereign mercy calls, ' Return,' 
Dear Lord, and may I come? 
My vile ingratitude I mourn, 
O take the wanderer home." 

He is compelled to say, call me not a Chris- 
tian. I have forfeited that blessed name. 
Call me a sinner, the chief of sinners. But 
as such, suffer me to return again to God. 
" I am no more worthy to be called a son ; 
make me as one of thy hired servants." This 
the Holy Spirit makes him feel. All that he 
had gained he has foolishly thrown away. 
He must now come back with even deeper 
humiliation than if he had never come before. 
Deeper sense of his own need will press him 
down. Deeper feeling of his own degradation 
9 



194 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

will humble him. Happy would it have been 
had he never wandered. But that happiness 
he can not now feel. True, God will still 
love him. His Father will meet him and 
pardon him. He will still call him his child. 
" Is Ephraim my dear son ? Is he a pleasant 
child ? For since I spake against him, I do 
earnestly remember him still. I will surely 
have mercy on him, saith the Lord." But, 
amidst all this overflowing kindness from a 
pardoning God, by which God is pacified 
toward liim for all that he hath done, he can 
not but remember his sin, and dare not open 
his mouth in self-vindication, for shame. He 
loathes himself in his own sight for all his 
iniquities. With the feeling of entire self- 
renunciation he would love to begin again his 
Christian course, and have all that has passed 
forgotten for ever. 

The backslider must come back with con- 
scious emptiness. He has nothing to bring ; 
nothing to offer. Kaomi says, " I went out 
fuU, and the Lord hath brought me home 



THE backslider's RETURN. 195 

again empty." How true is this ! What 
can you bring back from your wanderings in 
Moab but the bitter remembrance of your 
folly ? Vain is the attempt to recall the joys 
of those hours of pleasure for which you have 
given your soul. Your former peace — your 
happiness in a Saviour consciously beloved — 
your joy in the Holy Grhost, who graciously 
taught and led you in the heavenly way, are 
gone. In vain do you try to restore or renew 
them in your state of folly. 

"Where is the blessedness you knew 
When first you saw the Lord? 
Where is the soul-refreshing view 
Of Jesus, and his word?" 

And what can the world give to compen- 
sate you for this loss ? Your Christian char- 
acter, your religious influence over others, 
and their confidence in the firm fidelity of 
your religious purposes, are all gone. Vain 
will be your effort to renew them, but in the 
sure and manifest renewal of your own Chris- 
tian life. Who will willingly anchor upon 



196 THE EICII KINSMAN. 

a floating island ? The fickle backslider can 
do no good, except as a warning monument 
to others. Your own free confidence in God 
as your heavenly Father^ your filial, frank, 
and affectionate spirit in your relations to 
him, are gone. How painfully you feel this 
in your private attempts to pray ! How often 
God seems to be far from you ! How often 
will your burdened spuit cry out like Job, 
" Oh that I knew where I might find him ! 
That I might come even to his seat ! Behold 
I go forward, but he is not there ; and back- 
ward, but I can not perceive him ; on the 
left hand where he doth work, but I can not 
behold him ; he hideth himself on the right 
hand, that I can not see him." Nothing but 
sadness can come from a careless backsliding 
from God. And so far as your own acts and 
conduct are concerned, you must return to him 
with perfect emptiness. If divine grace and 
long-suffering shall receive you — if the Holy 
Spirit shall consent to restore you, and lead you 
back to the mercy-seat, once more accepted — 



I 



THE backslider's RETURN. 197 

it will be all as a free gift to the chief of sin- 
ners. If any improvements are asked from 
you, what can you say ? Where is your first 
love, your youthful devotion, your early obe- 
dience, your prayer, your penitence, your faith, 
your joy in God, your delight in doing his 
will ? Ah, how sadly have you to reply, " I 
have lost them all ! I went out full, but the 
Lord hath brought me home again empty." 



'In my hand no price I bring, 
Simply to his cross I cling." 



Yet how precious is the expression, " The 
Lord hath brought me back !" Yes, though 
I am empty, and have nothing ; though I am 
vile in his sight, and " mine own clothes abhor 
me ;" though I was worthy of his rejection and 
his wrath ; yet he did not leave me in my sin, 
nor suffer me, unpardoned, to perish. He 
has brought me back to his feet, and where 
my sin hath abounded, his grace hath so 
much the more abounded. But I come back 
empty. Every thing has failed me except 



198 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

the loving-kindness and mercy of my God. 
No condition can be more humbling than 
this. And the backslider feels this low and 
destitute state in which the Lord finds him 
as throwing him more completely upon sov- 
ereign, pardoning mercy, than he ever realized 
before. 

" 'Tis merer, mercy I implore : 
O let thy mercies move ! 
Thy grace id an exhaustless store, 
And thou thyself art love." 

The backslider must return with a deep 
sense of guilt. Naomi thus interprets all her 
sorrows. " Why call ye me Naomi, seeing 
the Lord hath testified against me, and the 
Almighty hath afliicted me T' She has not 
a word of excuse, or self-justification. Thus 
the widow of Sarepta said to Elijah, ^^ Why 
hast thou come to call my sin to my remem- 
brance by slaj-ing my son T' Her sorrow 
brought her own guilt to mind. And she 
was made to mourn with a twofold grief. 
Thus the returning backslider will always 



THE backslider's RETURN. 199 

feel. The consciousness of Ms guilt oppresses 
his heart. Like a heavy load^ the remem- 
brance of his unnecessary transgressions lies 
upon him. How he has crucified the Lord 
afresh, and put him to an open shame ! How 
he has wounded him in the house of his 
friends ! What obstacles he has placed in 
the way of others who may be desiring to find 
a Saviour ! What ingratitude he has shown 
to Christ for all his kindness to himself ! 
What occasion he has given to the enemies to 
blaspheme ! It is vain to attempt to lessen 
this sense of guilt. The remembrance of it, 
under the heart-breaking work of the Holy 
Spirit, oppresses, and must oppress. Secret 
hours of bitterness and mourning are appoint- 
ed him. Closet humiliation and weeping are 
in store for him. He comes back through a 
mournful path. 

Let this work of the Holy Spirit have free 
course in you. Do not attempt the least jus- 
tification of yourselves. Speak not, think 
not of any temptation that led you astray, 



200 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

or of the influence of any companions, or of 
the want of watchfulness of any friends, or 
of the unfaithfulness of others in instructing 
and warning you, or of the example and 
hahits of others in the social circle in which 
you live, as the least extenuation of your own 
guilt. 0, no. You have no one to hlame but 
yourself. You have been tempted, Only be- 
cause you were drawn away by your own lust. 
You have been enticed by the lusting, sinful 
spirit which dwells within your own heart. 
No circumstances can be allowed to reduce 
your sense of your own guilt. However your 
blessed Lord may have mercy upon your igno- 
rance of unbeKef, and plead for you that 
your spirit was often willing when your flesh 
was weak, you can make no such plea for 
yourself Do not attempt either to cover 
yourself by reducing your standard of duty, or 
by denying that the wanderings of which you 
are conscious, were guilty. Ah, you may 
unite with those who put darkness for light, 
and call evil good, but you will gain nothing 



I 



THE backslidek's keturn. 201 

by such attempts at deception. God can not 
be mocked. Your earthly, careless backslid- 
ings from the high calling by which you were 
called — whatever the giddy world may think 
of them, or whatever mere formal religionists 
around you may call them — are guilty ; 
amidst your light and opportunities, deeply, 
dreadfully guilty. Nothing can blind our 
eyes to this. Music may be entrancing — 
beauty attractive — dress adorning — society 
mirthful and bewildering — refinement may 
gild it — admiration may crown you in it — 
your silly mind, like some charmed bird, may 
float around in this unreal atmosphere in 
circles of delusive joy — ^but it is all guilt. It 
is all ruin. The price you have paid for it 
all is the love, authority, and presence of 
your Saviour. Jesus is the sacrifice, and the 
world has been the god. shun every 
thought of self-justification. Adopt, acquire, 
insist upon, a real consciousness of guilt as 
the only characteristic of your course. The 
Lord testifies against you. Be willing and 
9* 



202 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

determined to testify against yourself. Come, 
with an humbled, broken, contrite heart, from 
all your ^vanderings in folly, and cast yourself, 
in deep humiliation, at a Saviour's feet — im- 
ploring pardon, but acknowledging and feeling 
that you deserve rejection and condemnation. 

" Foul, I to the Saviour fly, 
Wash me, Saviour, or I die." 

Yet, while the backslider himself mourns, 
others rejoice over him. "It came to pass, 
when they were come to Bethlehem, that all 
the city was moved about them ; and they 
said. Is this Naomi .?" Her friends had 
not forgotten her. They gather around her 
again with delight. All Bethlehem rejoices. 
Naomi's poverty and wanderings are for- 
gotten. She has herself returned, and this is 
enough. The poor prodigal had hardly time 
to say, "Father, I have sinned," before his 
father buries his voice in his own bosom, and 
lifts up a sound of joy which completely 
drowns the accents of the wanderer's grief. 
" Bring forth the best robe, and put it on 



THE BACKSLIDEK'S RETURN. 203 

him ; and put a ring on his hand ; and shoes 
on his feet ; and bring hither the fatted calf 
and kill it ; and let us eat and be merry ; 
for this my son was dead, and is alive again ; 
he was lost, and is found/' how blessed 
is this instruction ! The penitent backslider 
may come to Bethlehem without fear. He 
may go to the fountain of the Saviour's blood, 
in the full assurance that it can wash him as 
white as snow. " All his transgressions that 
he hath committed, they shall not be men- 
tioned unto him." The Lord will multiply his 
pardons. If he truly believe, and trust him- 
self simply and penitently to the Saviour's 
merit, and the Saviour's love, his scarlet and 
crimson are like snow and wool. He has no 
penances to enact — no loads to bear — no 
periods of doubt and painful uncertainty to 
go through. Let him come to Christ, and it 
is enough. The righteousness of " God mani- 
fest in the flesh" is still his. Free salvation is 
still for him. Complete deliverance is still 
his own. As he first received Christ Jesus 



204 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

the Lord, so let liiin now walk in him ; and 
he will love him freely ; he will heal all his 
backslidings, and will save him for his own. 
name's sake, though his backslidings testify 
against him. There will be great joy at his 
return. The Lord rejoices — angels rejoice — 
saints rejoice — the Church rejoices. Oh, what 
a song of praise does his restoration awaken ! 
Heaven and earth unite to say, over the 
returning wanderer, " Is this Naomi ?" Is 
this the wanderer ? This the captive that 
we thought was lost ? This the giddy child 
that was bent to backsliding, and fled from 
aU restraint ? This the poor sinner who has 
been plucked as the prey from the jaws of the 
lion ? Who hath begotten us these ? Sing, 
heavens, for the Lord hath done it. Shout, 
ye lower parts of the earth, for the Lord hath 
blotted out as a thick cloud their transgress- 
ions, and as a cloud, their sins. return. 
Keturn then. Fly instantly, affectionately, 
to the pardoning blood of Jesus, and all is 
well for you for ever 1 



IX. 



%'\^t fffttng €auiint 



So Naomi returned, and Euth, the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with 
her, which returned out of the country of Moab. And they came to 
Bethlehem in the beginning of barley-harvest. — Etjth, i. 22. 



The return of the backslider was our last 
theme. " So Naomi returned/' We have 
seen the path of humiliation and the result 
of blessedness and peace, as exemplified in 
her case. But it was happy for Naomi that 
she did not return alone. " Kuth, the Moab- 
itess, her daughter-in-law, returned with 
her.'' " They two went until they came to 
Bethlehem." They were companions through 
all the journey. They participated in the 
happiness in which the journey resulted. 
They possessed together the prosperity which 



206 THE RICH KIXSMAy. 

was bestowed upon them in consequence of 
their return. Little was Naomi aware of the 
treasure she was bringing to Israel, or of the 
honor which was in store for Ruth. She says, 
" The Lord hath brought me back empty." 
And it was so, so far as she was herself con- 
cerned. But the Lord had brought back 
with her one whom all generations should call 
blessed ; one who was to be a mother of the 
promised Messiah, the anointed Saviour of 
Israel — an honor which every daughter of 
Israel considered the verv hi^rhest in their 
nation. We are now to contemplate her 
admission to Israel The young convert's 
entrance among the people of God. 

We can not enter upon such a view without 
stopping for a moment to think of the happi- 
ness of Naomi in such a companion. How 
great was the privilege to her, to bring back 
with her own return so precious a soul to the 
Lord of Hosts ! One main feature of our 
mature Christian life is its constant success- 
ion of returns from backsliding. God is daily 



THE YOUNG CONVEKT. 207 

graciously renewing our decays. The longer 
we live and walk in the path of grace the 
more clearly does our own sinfulness appear 
to us, and the deeper does it seem to be. I 
might say, our daily life is but a daily back- 
sliding, and a daily effort to return. Our 
weekly and yearly life is but a repetition of 
the same experience on a larger scale. In 
every thing we come short of manifest and 
conscious duty. We should despair and 
perish were it not for the Lord's gracious 
promise, " I will heal their backslidings ; I 
will love them freely ; for mine anger is 
turned away from them." But the gracious 
power of the Holy Spirit excites and enables 
us to return. The Saviour still pities us and 
receives us. The Father still bears with us 
and accepts us. Happily, the most of our 
falls and sins are secret. Our gracious God 
mercifully hides our folly, protects our charac- 
ter, and suffers us not to be dishonored in the 
view of others when we have very much dis- 
honored him. Our errors and wanderings are 



208 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

often unknown to others. And we may at 
the same time be growing in holiness in their 
estimation, when we are the most deeply 
humbled under the consciousness of sin in 
ourselves. 

How great is our privilege if, in our age, 
we find our children and our youthful friends 
ready to come back with us to the service of 
God ! What an unspeakable joy it is to a 
Christian parent to be attended by his chil- 
dren in the heavenly path ! What an en- 
couragement and consolation it is to see them 
led by our example, ignorant of our secret 
humiliations ; to have them come to us with 
confidence and affection, and freely ask the 
way to Zion, and faithfully avow their pur- 
pose to travel with us to the heavenly 
country ! " So they two went together until 
they came to Bethlehem/' I can not con- 
ceive a greater blessing in social life than 
when we can say this of father and son, of 
mother and daughter. This is a bond which 
must long outlast every other one ; and a 



THE YOUNG CONVERT. 209 

treasure of enjoyment which must remain 
when every other one has failed. How such 
companionship in religion relieves the sorrows 
of the road ! How it multiplies the joys of 
the way ! Let us never forget that sympathy 
divides our griefs and doubles our enjoyments. 
It is never good for one to be alone in the 
path which leads to God. 'No blessing can 
be greater than such family religion. The 
benefit is mutual. The parent's faith is 
strengthened and animated by an observation 
of filial devotion. The child's heart is en- 
couraged and upheld by an experience of 
parental fidelity. Instead of the parents are 
the children. They will take our place in 
the sanctuary. They will fill up our useful- 
ness in the Church. They will maintain our 
warfare in the world. They will perpetuate 
our influence among men. They will honor 
our memory after we are gone. They will 
meet us crowned in glory. We shall not be 
ashamed when we speak with them in the 
heavenly gate. 



210 THE RICH KIXSMAK. 

The mother and the daughter take sweet 
counsel together on their joumev. Naomi 
has much to tell, Ruth has much to ask, in 
reference to the new home to which they are 
returning together. The child's readiness to 
hear is a swift witness of the transparent sin- 
cerity and excellence of parental example. 
We haye no witnesses of our religious conduct 
more scrutinizing, or generally more accurate, 
than the consciences of our children. How- 
eyer often filial loye may lead to the coyering 
or excusing our domestic faults, they form a 
real, and generally accurate opinion of the 
reaKty of our Christian profession. And it is 
a most grateful tribute from the Lord's hand, 
when they can freely come, and confer with 
us of the great interests of our common sal- 
yation. Let parents encourage this spirit of 
confidence. By openness, and tenderness, 
and reasonableness of conduct and expecta- 
tion, let them strive to win the minds of 
youth to confiding and affectionate communi- 
carion. 



THE YOUNG CONVERT. 211 

Their mutual prayers and encouragements 
are full of advantage. The blending of the 
varied experience of the two becomes helpful 
to both. The despondency of age is animated 
by the joyful anticipations of youth. The 
effervescence of youth is moderated by the 
experience and soberness of age. The hours 
of affliction are made lighter. The burden 
of care and trial loses half its power to op- 
press. Many a sorrow which would completely 
press down the mother alone, becomes an ab- 
solute comfort and blessing by the religious 
spirit and affectionate ministrations which it 
calls forth in the child. And Naomi finds a 
happiness in the society of Euth which she 
hardly hoped to find again upon the earth. 
'^ So they went together." Unity of feeling, 
unity of interests, unity of hope bind them to- 
gether. They have fellowship one with an- 
other. They separate not in the whole course 
of the journey. They came together to Beth- 
lehem. They enter the land, the people, the 
house of the Lord together. What greater 



212 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

comfort can there be to declining age than 
the presence and ministrations of religious 
youth ? "What a solace is it to a dying pa- 
rent's heart to breathe liis last in the midst 
of filial gratitude and piety ! To close his 
eyes upon earth with their last vision upon a 
family whom he hath trained fc Christ — 
whom the Lord has really called to his ser- 
vice — and who survive him ou the earth to 
perpetuate the memory of his love, and the 
influence of his character, to the glorj* of their 
common Father and Lord ! Well does the 
Apostle say, ^' Honor thy father and thy 
mother, which is the first commandment with 
promise," full of blessings in its religious ob- 
servance, both to the parents and to the 
children. 

But while Ruth took sweet counsel with 
Naomi, her thoughts and feelings were still 
in a great degree peculiar to herself, and 
completely her own. To her eveiy prospect 
is hopeful, and her imagination loves to stray 
through all the anticipations which are pre- 



THE YOUNG CONVERT. 213 

sented to her youtliful mind. Notliing ap- 
pears discouraging to her, in the views which 
she indulges. This is a blessed privilege of 
youthful piety. It gives ample, delightful 
employment to the divinely-bestowed powers 
of imagination. What we call castle building, 
in connection with our possible earthly affairs, 
that is, anticipations and schemes which are 
wholly fanciful, and never likely to be real- 
ized, is no longer building castles in the air 
when we are guided by the hopes and prom- 
ises which the Gospel brings. Here we may 
anticipate with assurance, and roam with un- 
checked delight. Heaven is eternal youth ; 
an eternal succession of anticipations and 
hopes. The young Christian truly living and 
walking in Christ, rejoices in the hopes which 
a Saviour gives ; is encouraged, ardent, and 
delighted in looking forward over the way in 
which the great Captain of salvation is lead- 
ing the sons of God. The happiness of true 
piety is habitually the commanding feeling 
of such a heart. Often has such a one said 



214 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

to me, ^^ I can not spnpatliize with some of 
your statements of the trials of religion. The 
path seems to me to be filled with joys. I 
see no trials or sorrows in it." Thus would 
Ruth have said. She could have no feeling 
but unmingled pleasure in the prospect of the 
journey she had undertaken. 

Every step of this journey is new. And her 
hourly experience is as encouraging as her 
anticipations. Prospects and scenes are con- 
stantly opening upon our heavenly road which 
were before unknown. There is nothing 
stale or unexciting in a youthful religious life. 
Every day brings new experience of a Sa- 
viour's love — new enjoyment of the teaching 
of the Spirit — new opportunities to do some- 
thing for Christ — new intelligence of the tes- 
timonies of his word — new pleasure in the 
offerings of worship to him — and new readi- 
ness to endure and suffer for his sake. When 
the mind has been enlightened with clear 
views of the Saviour's truth, and his pardon- 
ing love and justifying righteousness are seen 



THE YOUNG CONVERT. 215 

and embraced with a ready and thankful faith, 
then the path of obedience seems ever open, 
and ever plain. The obstacles are few, and 
are disregarded. The trials are small, and 
furnish no subject for complaint. The privi- 
lege of the Lord's service seems great and 
precious. And each day prepares some pleas- 
ure for the soul that has thus been taught to 
love him, which was not seen or felt before. 

Delightful encouragements arise in her 
mind which overwhelm all possible regrets or 
fears. How many hopes and plans cluster 
around Bethlehem and Judah ! She knows 
not what the Lord has prepared for her. It 
has not entered into her youthful heart to 
conceive the actual blessings which are laid 
up in store for her there. But she knows that 
all must be well and happy for her under the 
shadow of his wings in whom she has come to 
put her trust. Well may you appropriate all 
this, my young Christian friends. " Who is he 
that will harm you if ye be followers of that 
which is good ?" What encouraging hopes 



216 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

crowd to animate your youth in the service of 
your Lord ! How useful to others you may be- 
come ! Many may be waiting to hear the word 
of God from your mouth. Many souls may 
be prepared to be given as seals to your min- 
istry, and your example. Little can you im- 
agine to what an extent this may be ! God 
has laid open to you a path of unlimited use- 
fulness on earth. I mean unlimited by any 
bounds which we have a right to fix. He 
only could describe it to you. Arise, and 
take advantage of it. Make full proof of the 
privileges he bestows, and be eager and deter- 
mined to fill up the measure of your dispen- 
sation from him. Come, give your life and 
strength freely and simply to the glory of 
your crucified Lord. '^ Thine are we, David. 
And on thy side, thou son of Jesse. Peace be 
unto thee. And peace be to thine helpers. 
For thy God helpeth thee." Nothing is in 
your way. You may do all things through 
Christ that strengtheneth you, and be made 
more than conquerors in him. 



THE YOUNG CONVERT. 217 

She comes with a deep sense of her own 
unworthiness. But this is silenced by her 
conscious desire and choice. The young con- 
vert knows and feels his guilt. But he need 
not, and does not stop to sit down under the 
mere dominion of grief for the past. He has 
his new work to do. He must press forward in 
it. And the cloud will pass away, and leave 
him in the sunshine of his Saviour's love, to 
finish and perfect it. He sees complete for- 
giveness in the blood of his gracious Lord. 
He hears of perfect acceptance in the merit 
of the Master whom he now serves. With 
nothing of his own but guilt, he yet can come 
freely and with confidence to the fountain 
which Christ has opened, and be at peace. 
And at the same time he can feel and say, 
" I am nothing, less than nothing ; yet I 
have all, and abound in Christ. All things 
are mine, because I am his/' Thus, my dear 
youth, look to Jesus. Cast your burdens and 
cares at. his feet. Leave them there, and set 
out upon the path of new obedience and new 
10 



218 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

duty under the shelter and guidance of your 
new Master, who will be more than all to 
you. 

But the perseverance of Ruth furnishes 
us with another most important example. 
" They went together until they came to 
Bethlehem." There is no fact which gives 
the Church more peculiar joy in the coming 
of young converts to Christ than their 
habitual perseverance. They are the ones 
who " hold fast the beo:inninoc of their con- 
fidence steadfast unto the end." Those 
" who are planted in the house of the Lord 
shall flourish in the courts of our God. They 
shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They 
shall be fat and flourishing ; to show that 
the Lord is upright, and there is no unright- 
eousness in him." What is thus the Lord's 
promise is also the constant experience of his 
Church. Who are they that go forth to 
preach the Gospel ? To plant the truth of 
Jesus in heathen lands ? Who are they that 
labor to teach, and guide, and bless the 



THE YOUNG CONVERT. 219 

young ? Who are tliey that honor the Lord 
with their substance, and the first fruits of 
their increase ? Who are they that are 
valiant for his Word, and maintain the honor 
of his law ? These are all the young converts 
to the Saviour. They can be useful, fruitful, 
honorable for him. They can be increasingly 
happy in themselves. He loves those who 
early love and seek him. And our habitual 
experience is, that the multitude of back- 
sliders and false professors are not generally 
found among them. We see them holding 
on their way, and waxing stronger and 
stronger even to the end. They have the 
blessed privilege of saying, "0 God, thou 
hast taught me from my youth. And hitherto 
I have declared thy wondrous works. ISTow 
also, when I am old and gray-headed, God, 
forsake me not. Thou shalt increase my 
greatness, and comfort me on every side." 
The most fruitful, faithful Christians are 
habitually those who begin the earliest. I 
would earnestly press upon you a remem- 



220 THE RICH KIXSMAy. 

brance of this truth ; and entreat you to set 
out now — to-day — in the morning hour — in 
simple dedication of yourselves to the Lord, 
and with a fixed determination never to 
withhold your hand from his work till the 
evening come ; 



" Till in life's latest hour you bow, 
And bless in death a bond so dear.'* 



The time of Ruth's arrival at Bethlehem 
was most significant. '• They came to Beth- 
lehem in the beonnninsr of barley-harvest/' 
The barley-harvest of Palestine was in the 
eariy spring. The bariey was sown after the 
autumnal rains, in the month of October, and 
the harvest was in the month of April It 
was a time of special joy, the first spring- 
gathering of their annual fruits. The harvest 
is always employed as an illustration of satis- 
faction and joy. '* They joy before thee, 
according to the joy of harvest." And is it 
not always a scene of rejoicing when the 
sinner returns .^ When backsUders come 



I 



THE YOUNG CONVERT. 221 

again to their first love, and new trophies of 
the Saviour's power are brought to his sanc- 
tuary — there is abounding joy. The master 
and the reapers rejoice together over the prod- 
ucts of the field which the Lord hath 
blessed. The husbandman casts his seed ^ in 
the ground. Thus do we scatter the seed of 
the Saviour's word upon the minds and hearts 
of men. And when the Holy Spirit gives life 
and growth to the heavenly seed, and it 
springs and grows up, and bears its fruit unto 
life eternal, in a harvest of converted souls, 
happy is the pastor who has toiled and 
waited. Happy is the church which is thus 
refreshed. Happy they who are returning 
with their streams of joyful hope. He that 
soweth and he that reapeth rejoice to- 
gether. 

The harvest was a time of opening abun- 
dance. No wants or poverty were pressing 
now. There is thus bread enough and to 
spare in the Saviour's house. And when the 
sinner finds a shelter there, he finds all his 



222 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

needs supplied. His soul has abundance of 
all things which it desire th. 

*' Every longing satisfied 
"With full salvation blessed." 

No more encouraging time could there 
have been for Ruth's first acquaintance with 
Israel. Every aspect of the land was promis- 
ing and prosperous. The fields glowed 
around in their beauty. The sounds of joy 
arose on every side. The sight of plenty 
crowned every prospect. And she sees her 
new home clothed vdih every attraction. 
Like the Queen of Sheba, she is ready to say, 
" The half was not told me." Is it not al- 
ways so when we first come to the feet of 
Jesus, and find our peace and acceptance 
there ? Now we seem to live for the first 
time. There is reality, happiness, satisfac- 
tion here. We are no longer ashamed of our 
pursuit. We no longer desire to roam in the 
wilderness of earthly folly. We have found 
him whom our soul loveth, and we have 
found every thing we want in him. 



THE YOUNG CONVERT. 223 

The barley-harvest was the time of the 
passover. The weeks between the passover 
and the pentecost they ^^ began to number 
from the time they put the sickle in the 
corn/' The beginning of the barley-harvest 
was the bringing the first-fruitSj a sheaf of 
their barley, to present it before the Lord. 
And when the seven weeks which were tt) be 
numbered were completed, two loaves of their 
new bread must be brought as another first- 
fruits to present in his sanctuary— the token 
of their harvest now complete. Thus this 
young convert from the Gentiles comes as 
the first-fruits of a Gentile harvest to be 
gathered, and is welcomed with Israel as a 
partaker of the paschal feast. Happy are we 
in welcoming our youthful friends giving 
evidence of their new-birth for God, and their 
living faith in Jesus, to the table of the Lord. 
Happy is the house, the first-fruits of which 
are thus consecrated and sanctified by the 
Spirit to be the Lord's for ever. Happy is 
the church where youthful members flock 



224 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

around the Saviour's board, delighting to say- 
to him, " My Father, thou art the guide of 
my youth." 

The Saviour was the first-fruits of the 
resurrection. He ascended to present himself 
before the Father's throne — entering as our 
forerunner within the vail. The loaves of 
the completed harvest will be presented when 
"he has accomplished the number of his 
elect," and brought out his everlasting glori- 
ous kingdom. Then shall all his grain be 
gathered to his garner, and the chaff de- 
stroyed in unquenchable fire. Ah, when that 
great day shall come, then will Ruth appear 
with him in glory. The great harvest 
finished, and all his saints with him for ever. 
My dear young friends, shall you be there ? 
Has the Saviour had the first sheaf of your 
youth ? May he hope to have the loaves of 
your maturity .J seek now the harvest of his 
Spirit's work within you. Thus in that great 
day may you partake the joy of the Saviour's 
harvest in the multitude of his redeemed. 



%\t lid] ^inismau 



And Naomi had a kinsman of her husband's, a mighty man of wealth, 
of the family of Elimelech; and his name was Boaz. — Euxh, ii. 1. 



There have already passed before our view 
the wanderers in the folly and suffering of 
their flight from God ; the backslider in her 
awakening from sin, and her penitent return 
to find again the mercy she had cast away ; 
and the youthful convert in her first rescue 
from guilt; her faithful choice of the service 
of God, and her happy entrance among his 
people. A new scene opens to us now. The 
lovely character of Kuth is connected with 
the majestic revelation of Euth's Kedeemer. 
This presents to us the main object of the 
10* 



226 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

whole liistory, which is not merely an exhi- 
bition of Ruth's character, but also an illus- 
tration of her complete redemption. 

The law of God provided for every wasted 
and impoverished Israelite a particular kins- 
man, whose duty it was to bear the responsi- 
bilities of his redemption. This was to be 
the nearest kinsman who had the ability to 
accomplish the redemption which was re- 
quired. And though Boaz was not the 
nearest kinsman to Naomi, yet the one who 
was nearer in his relation had not the ability 
to redeem her, and Boaz became their ap- 
pointed and sufficient redeemer. 

The title which the law gave to this desig- 
nated kinsman was Goel, meaning one who 
redeems, the kinsman-redeemer. There could 
be but one such. The legal appointment 
gave him very peculiar rights, and laid upon 
him very particular obligations. We may 
with profit first cite the language of the legal 
institution. " The land shall not be sold 
for ever ; for the land is mine ; for ye are 



J 



THE KICH KINSMAN. 227 

strangers and sojourners witb. me. And in 
all the land of your possession ye shall grant 
a redemption for the land. If thy brother 
be waxen poor, and hath sold away some of 
his possession, and if any of his kin come to 
redeem it, then shall he redeem that which 
his brother sold. And if the man have none 
to redeem it, and himself be able to redeem 
it, then let him count the years of the sale 
thereof, and restore the overplus unto the 
man to whom he sold it that he may return 
unto his possession. But if he be not able to 
restore it to him, then that which is sold shall 
remain in the hand of him that hath bought 
it, until the year of jubilee ; and in the jubilee 
it shall go out, and he shall return unto his 
possession. And if a sojourner or stranger 
wax rich by thee, and thy brother that 
dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself 
unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to 
the stock of the stranger's family ; after that 
he is sold he may be redeemed again ; one 
of his brethren may redeem him ; either his 



228 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him ; or 
any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family 
may redeem him ; or if he be able, he may 
redeem himself. And he shall reckon with 
him that bought him, from the year that he 
was sold to him unto the year of jubilee ; and 
the price of his sale shall be according imto 
the number of years, according to the time 
of an hired servant shall it be with him. 
And if he be not redeemed in these years, 
then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, 
both he and his children with him/' — Leviti- 
cus, XXV. 

" Speak unto the children of Israel, when 
a man or woman shall commit any sin that 
men commit, to do a trespass against the 
Lord, and that person be guilty, then they 
shall confess their sin which they have done ; 
and he shall recompense his trespass with the 
principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth 
part thereof, and give it unto him against 
whom he hath trespassed. But if the man 
have no kinsman to recompense the trespass 



THE RICH KINSMAN. 229 

unto, let the trespass "be recompensed unto 
the Lord." — Numbers^ v. 6. 

Here the various duties and rights of the 
goel, the kinsman-redeemer, are described. 
Four different things he was to do. He was to 
redeem the property which the impoverished 
family had sold. He was to redeem the per- 
sons of his poor relations from bondage. He 
was to make satisfaction for the loss which 
others had endured by the poverty of his rela- 
tive. He was to receive satisfaction for injuries 
which had been done to his kinsman. These 
were his responsibilities and his rights. In 
all these things the goel was in the actual 
place of his impoverished relative. He was 
his appointed representative. What was 
done by him or to him, in this legal relation, 
was as if it were done by or to the person 
himself for whom he appeared. Just such 
a goel Naomi and Kuth found in Boaz. 
God had provided a rich kinsman for them, 
who was perfectly able, and entirely willing 
to redeem their property, and to restore 



230 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

to them their condition in Tsrael. And 
the residue of the story is occupied in a 
description of the way in which he actually 
accomplished this redemption. 

But this whole appointment of the goel 
was intended to be a very clear and beautiful 
type of our gracious Saviour, who has become 
our kinsman, that he might be our Redeemer. 
And the history of the actual instance of re- 
demption which the story of Ruth gives, is as 
clear an illustration of that wonderful work 
of redemption which Jesus has accomplished, 
and which the goel typified. He assumed 
our nature, and took a body of the same 
earthly origin as our own, with all its powers 
and properties — with all the compassions, sor- 
rows, and feelings of man, that he might 
redeem us from our poverty and condemna- 
tion, and restore to us the inheritance and the 
station in the family of God which we had 
lost. By this very name Goel, is he habitu- 
ally called in those places of the Old Testa- 
ment which speak of him as our Redeemer. 



THE RICH KINSMAN. 231 

I may select a few instances of this for 
you. 

Job says, ch. xix. 25, 26, "I know that my 
Eedeemer (my goel) livetli, and that he shall 
stand at the latter day upon the earth ; and 
though, after my skin worms destroy this 
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God," (or I 
shall see God in my flesh, as incarnate for 
me) " whom I shall see for myself, and mine 
eyes shall behold, and not another." This 
was his glorious testimony of a belief in the 
future manifestation of the Saviour in human 
flesh — and the certainty of his hope that he 
should see him in a glorified body, a man like 
himself Well does he long that such precious 
words were graven with an iron pen and lead 
in the rock for ever ! God has thus become 
our kinsman, our goel in our own flesh. " The 
union in ImmanueFs person of God's nature 
with man's, is like a ladder which reacheth 
from the earth to heaven. At one end it de- 
scends into the lowest depths of the horrible 
pit, and at the other it rises into the heights 



232 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

of uncreated blessedness and glory." " Con- 
template with the telescopic eye of faith, your 
fellow man, your nearest of kin, your brother 
according to the flesh, the native of Bethle- 
hem, a town which your tourists visit, the 
Son of a woman whose grave is among us to 
this day. Behold him clothed with the robes 
of divine majesty, and, as the peer and col- 
league of God the Father, swaying on the 
throne of eternal monarchy, his scepter over 
all that is created in heaven, earth, and hell ; 
Immanuel, God our kinsman." (Heivitson.) 
This is our goel, our rightful, appointed Re- 
deemer. 

Psalm xix. 14. David says, " Let the words 
of my mouth and the meditation of my heart 
be acceptable in thy sight, Lord, my 
strength and my Redeemer." (My goel.) 

Proverbs, xxiii. 11. " Enter not into the 
fields of the fatherless ; for their Redeemer 
(their goel) is mighty ; he shall plead their 
cause with thee." 

Isaiah, xlvii. 4. " As for our Redeemer (our 



THE RICH KINSMAN. 233 

goel,) the LoED of Hosts is his name, the 
Holy One of Israel." 

Jeremiah, 1. 34. " Their Kedeemer (their 
goel) is strong, the Lord of Hosts is his name. 
He shall thoroughly plead their cause." 

These are only a few of the many passages 
in which the Saviour is called our goel, in the 
language of the Old Testament. All that 
the appointed kinsman could do for the estate 
and hody of his impoverished relative, the 
Lord Jesus as our goel does for our souls, and 
our everlasting state. In his humanity he is 
our nearest kinsman. In his Deity, he is 
perfectly able to supply all our wants, and to 
defend us from every danger and oppression. 
As the promised goel, the Lord Jesus has a 
special relation to Israel as a nation, and a 
particular personal relation to every believing 
soul. We may in a few words speak of both 
of these points. 

He is the goel, the kinsman-Redeemer of 
the nation of Israel. He is the seed of Abra- 
ham, in whom all the nations are to be blessed. 



234 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

God gave the land of Canaan unto Abraham, 
and unto his seed for ever. It was to be their 
permanent possession. But the children of 
Abraham have been long since cast out of 
their inheritance. Their land has been taken 
from them, and they have been wanderers 
and exiles on the earth. They are not reck- 
oned among the nations. Yet God ordained 
that this land should not be sold for ever, be- 
cause it was his land. It was ImmanueFs 
land. And Immanuel is their kinsman ac- 
cording to the flesh, who is to restore again 
that land to the seed of Abraham, and to put 
Israel again in possession of the inheritance 
which is theirs by an everlasting covenant, 
but from which they have been so long driven. 
His feet are in that day to stand upon the 
Mount of Olives. He is to be the king over 
all the earth. The land shall be inhabited in 
her place. Men shall dweU in it, and there 
shall be no more utter destruction. These 
are some of the divine promises conceniing 
this land. Then the children of Israel shall 



THE EICH KINSMAN. 285 

return and seek the Lord their God, and Da- 
vid their king. And they shall fear the Lord 
and his goodness in the latter days. At that 
time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of 
the Lord ; and all nations shall be gathered 
unto it. The house of Judah shall walk with 
the house of Israel, and they shall come to- 
gether to the land that God hath given for 
an inheritance unto their fathers. They shall 
dwell in the land wherein their fathers have 
dwelt, and the Son of David is to be their 
prince for ever. These are divine promises. 
(Genesis, xiii. 14. Zechariah, xiv. Hosea, iii. 
Jeremiah, iii. 17. Ezekiel, xxxvii. 25.) There 
are many promises like them. But I have 
not room to consider them here. The Lord 
Jesus is to be their kinsman-Eedeemer, and 
to restore to Israel the land, and the liberty, 
and the exaltation which they have lost. 

But the Lord Jesus Christ is also our goel, 
our kinsman-Eedeemer — to fulfill the great 
duties of a Eestorer to us. He restores that 
which he took not away. All that our impov- 



236 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

erished, sinful nature has lost, this glorious 
Saviour gives us back again, to he ours for 
ever. He has redeemed our lost estate. He 
has brought life and immortality to light, and 
given us a kingdom which can not be moved. 
He sets before us an unfading and incorrupt- 
ible inheritance, as a kingdom whicli was pre- 
pared for us before the world began, but 
which we have lost by sin, and sold for our 
own transgressions. He has redeemed our 
persons from bondage and condemnation. 
He has been made sin for us when he knew 
no sin. He has been made a curse in our 
stead, and given himself a ransom for us. 
Thus he has set us at liberty from the con- 
demnation of our guilt — has freely pardoned 
our iniquities — and, by the shedding of his 
own blood, he has delivered us from the law 
under which we were held, and has placed us 
under the dominion of his grace. By becom- 
ing himself a bond-servant in our place, he 
has made us free, with the liberty of the chil- 
dren of God. He has prepared our inherit- 



THE RICH KINSMAN. 237 

ance for us^ and lie prepares us for our inher- 
itance^ and puts us in possession of it for ever. 
He makes full satisfaction for all our sins. 
His precious blood cleanses from all sin. By- 
one sacrifice lie has perfected for ever them 
that are sanctified. So that God can be just, 
and yet the justifier of all who believe in him. 
He has thus magnified the divine law, and 
made it honorable, by dying under its sen- 
tence in our place, and perfectly obeying its 
precepts for our salvation. He demands sat- 
isfaction in our name. The enemy and op- 
pressor who held us in bondage he has bruised 
under his feet, has triumphed openly over 
him, and spoiled him of his prey, by plucking 
our souls out of his grasp, and breaking his 
dominion over us. Satan has no longer power 
to oppress those who receive Jesus as their 
kinsman, and have been redeemed and restored 
by his power. Thus Jesus is our goel. He 
fulfills for us every obligation which was laid 
upon the kinsman-redeemer of the Israelites. 
We may have entire confidence in his willing- 



238 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ness and his ability to restore and save us. 
We may go to him just as freely and hope- 
fully as the impoverished Jew went to his 
kinsman, perfectly sure that he is faitliful and 
just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from 
all unrighteousness. 

This gracious character of our blessed Sa- 
viour is brought out in many points of view 
in the history of Boaz. When Naomi re- 
turned to Judah with Ruth, she found a goel 
already prepared for her. He was " a mighty 
man of wealth," perfectly able to meet all 
their wants, and to restore them to their hap- 
py condition again. A kinsman already pro- 
vided. And such a kinsman has been provided 
for us. We need not say, " Who shall ascend 
up to heaven to bring Christ down from 
above" ? He is already prepared to be a Sa- 
viour for us, before we are born. His incar- 
nation, sufferings, and death have been com- 
pleted. He has made the way perfectly open 
for our complete salvation. We have nothing 
to do but to receive him, trust in him, and 



THE RICH KINSMAN. 239 

obey him, as our gracious Lord. He lias him- 
self finished our salvation, and if we accept 
him and believe in him, we at once possess 
the glorious salvation which he has perfected 
for us. Like Boaz, he is '^a mighty man of 
wealth/' All things in heaven and earth are 
his. And if we are his, all things are ours. 
He can enrich his people with every conceiv- 
able blessing. No good thing can they want 
while they have him for their friend and por- 
tion. How blessed is the recollection of this 
fullness which dwells in our Lord ! Perfect 
atonement for our sins. Glorious righteous- 
ness for our acceptance. Tender sympathy 
for our needs and fears. The Holy Spirit 
without measure to be bestowed by him. Un- 
limited glory as the just recompense of his 
obedience. Everlasting security in his merit. 
What more can we ask ? We are full — ^we 
are rich. We reign as kings in life eternal, if 
we lay ourselves in simple faith at the feet of 
Jesus, and receive him as our kinsman and 
our friend. We shall find no end to his riches. 



240 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

We can not trust him too entirely, or believe 
in him, or hope in him with too much confi- 
dence. We shall never he straitened in him. 
0, that I could lead you to see how clear, 
and open, and perfect, and sufficient is the 
way of salvation which he has opened for you. 
" Come unto me and I will give you rest." 
" Whosoever cometh to me I will in no wise 
cast out." 

The name of this rich kinsman of Naomi's 
was BoAZ, which means strength. In this 
name we may find a memorial of our divine 
Kedeemer. Jesus is our strength and our 
salvation. He is the power of God unto 
salvation for us. What mighty works he 
has done for us ! What works of mercy is 
he still willing to accomplish ! What loads 
and burdens does he bear in our behalf! 
He has borne our load of guilt in triumph, 
and endured the condemnation which it 
deserved. He has met the enemy of our 
souls in conflict, and trodden down his power 
to oppress. He has burst the bars of death, 



THE RICH KINSMAN. 241 

and taken possession of a throne of glory 
for us^ as one mighty to save. He overcomes 
the dominion of sin in our hearts, and leads 
us captive by the power of his grace. He 
rules over all things in heaven and earth, 
as our Prince and Saviour, the Lord of lords, 
and King of kings, and makes all things 
work together for good to those who love 
him. He has promised to bring with him 
in his glory all whom the Father hath given 
to him, losing not one. He will thus triumph 
in us, in everlasting glory, and show himself 
able to save unto the uttermost all who 
come unto him. Thus he is our Boaz, the 
Lord, our strength and our Kedeemer. And 
whether we read the law which appointed 
the goel, or this history, which so clearly 
illustrates the law, in each case we see our 
Lord Jesus Christ presented to us as all 
our salvation and all that we can desire. 

He is our kinsman-redeemer. We see him 
in his lowly human, suffering form, wearing 
our nature, and bearing the burden of our 
11 



242 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

sin. We see him in the unsearchahle riches 
of his grace as God over all, and in the 
triumphs of his obedience as the Lord our 
Kighteousness, possessing unlimited wealth 
to be applied to our needs. We see him 
of infinite might, exalted above the heavens, 
angels, authorities, and powers being made 
subject unto him. We see him fully pro- 
vided for us, waiting to be gracious to us, 
and ready to receive the poorest and the most 
wretched of his kinsmen who come to him. 
How his character and his work are adapted 
to attract us to himself, and to encourage 
us in his service ! My dear young friends, 
flock to his feet — accept his offers — embrace 
his promises — consent to take him as your 
kinsman, and love him with grateful love 
in return for all his goodness and love to you. 
Such a rich kinsman the aged backslider 
found on her return to Judah. Such a 
kinsman the young convert became ac- 
quainted with, and united to, when brought 
from Moab to the land of Israel. The history 



THE EICH KINSMAN. 243 

proceeds to tell us, in various particulars, 
the works of kindness and love whicli this 
kinsman did for them. And as these facts 
come successively before us we shall see in 
them beautiful illustrations of the works of 
mercy which our blessed kinsman and brother 
accomplishes for us. If the Lord shall be 
pleased to bless us with the teaching of his 
Spirit, we shall see more, and learn more 
of a Saviour's love in every step which we 
take in our study of this beautiful history. 

" loved, but not enough, though dearer far 
Than earth, and its most loved enjoyments are, 
None duly love thee, but who, nobly free 
From sense and self, lay up their all in thee ! 

"My soul, rest happy in this high estate. 
Nor wish in earthly wealth to be esteemed great ; 
Keceive the impression of his will divine. 
Be that thy glory, and those riches thine." 



XL 



And Ruth the Moabitcss said unto Naomi, Let me now go to the field, 
and glean ears of corn after him In whose sight I shall find grace. 
And she said unto her, Go, my daughter. And she went, and came 
and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light 
on a part of the field belonging unto Boaz, who was of the kindred 
of Elimelech. And, behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said 
unto the reapers, The Lord be with you. And they answered him, 
The Lord bless thee.— Ruth, li. 2-4. 



It is not in man who walketh to direct 
his steps. God brings his children by ways 
that they know not. He makes darkness 
to be light before them, and crooked things 
straight. He does this by opening to them 
a gradual and successive exhibition of the 
plans which he has formed concerning them. 
These plans are all laid out and complete 
in his own mind. He is of one mind always. 



THE GLEANER. 245 

He knows the thonglits which he thinks 
concerning them. But the manifestation 
of his plans to his people is very gradual, 
and as they are able to bear it. This is 
to us a blessed thought. There is no acci- 
dent in our lives. Our ways are ordered 
by the Lord, and we may ever trust entirely 
to him that he will lead us in perfect safety. 
He knows the way that we take, and if we 
love him, when he hath tried us we shall 
come forth like gold. 

We have seen how ample were the relief 
and the portion he had provided for Kuth. 
There was a kinsman prepared to protect, 
to sustain, and to exalt her, who was a 
mighty man of wealth. But as yet, she 
had no personal knowledge of him. She had 
no means of knowing what the gracious 
purposes of God regarding her might be. 
Just so we have seen God has prepared 
an all-sufficient and waiting Saviour for the 
sinner who is now poor and perishing ; a 
Saviour able to meet all his wants, his 



246 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

dangers, and his future needs. But the 
perishing sinner knows nothing of him, or 
of his o^vn interest in him. Yet God leaves 
him not in his ignorance. He sends his Holy- 
Spirit to show him the grace and glory which 
are laid up for him in Christ ; and to lead 
him to this gracious Lord, that helieving 
in him he may find eternal life in him. 
The way in which God is pleased to lead 
us to Jesus we shall have opportunity to 
see, while we trace the method of Kuth's 
introduction to her rich kinsman, in whom 
she was to find such wealth and happiness 
for herself. 

The first step is to reduce her to the 
deepest necessity. She has arrived with 
Naomi in Bethlehem. But they are there 
in great poverty, and with no apparent 
means of relief Want, like an armed man, 
invades their lonely habitation. Her prop- 
osition to Naomi displays the pressing char- 
acter of their need. It speaks the extent 
of their previous sufiering. "Let me go 



THE GLEANER. 247 

into the fields and glean ears of corn." This 
abrupt introduction of the request shows 
what had gone before. They might have 
meditated in silence over their extreme ne- 
cessity, or they might have been conversing 
together on their apparently hopeless state, 
when the thought suddenly strikes the mind 
of Kuth — it is the time of harvest, and the 
poor and stranger go out to glean : I will 
go also. " Mother, let me go and glean.'' 

The divine provision for the gleaner was 
most gracious. " When you reap the harvest 
of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the 
corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather 
the gleanings of thy harvest. Thou shalt 
leave them for the poor and stranger." — 
Leviticus, xix. 9. It was the provision for 
the destitute and the beggar. And such 
is their extreme want that they have no 
recourse but to beg. "Mother, let me go 
to the fields and glean." 

How this very necessity brought out a 
proof of the excellence of Kuth ! We might 



248 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

have reasonably looked for tlie language of 
weariness and disappointment. We should 
not have been justly surprised to see her 
give way under a trial so heavy, or to hear 
her say, '' Let us go back to Moab. It was 
better for me with my first husband than 
now." This would have been the feeling and 
the language of Orpah, if she had come 
so far. This is the feeling and language 
of many like her. The weariness of earthly 
disappointment makes them fiiint in the day 
of adversity. But this was not Ruth's mind. 
Love for her mother constrained her to seek 
a supply for their need. But she could not 
sin even to provide for her mother. The 
supply must be in Bethlehem, and according 
to the will of God. And as she looked out 
upon the harvest-field, and saw the poor 
and the stranger following the reapers, she 
says, "Mother, let me go to the fields and 
glean." And she came to the field, as a 
poor stranger, to gather up tlie scattered 
heads of barley which the reapers had left 



I 



THE GLEANER. 249 

in their path, and in the corners of the field. 
It could have been the result only of extreme 
necessity. 

Thus God brings the soul that he has 
loved and saved to an experience of utter 
want. He makes every hope to fail^ every 
means of spiritual safety to depart. Com- 
forts and joys, and personal strength, and 
remembrance of his own virtues or goodness, 
all fade entirely away. The poor sinner 
seems left to perish. He looks round in vain 
for any relief The Holy Spirit convinces 
him of sin, makes him to feel himself lonely 
and lost. He has no hope. He is in utter 
despair. But his conscious necessity urges 
him to come as a beggar, and seek the pro- 
visions of mercy in the Saviour's field. The 
poor woman said, " The dogs under the table 
eat of the crumbs which fall." Let me come 
under this deep humiliation and gather the 
crumbs. The pressure of conscious want 
upon the soul is great, often intolerable. 
The sinner cries out, " wretched man that 
11* 



250 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

I am, who shall deliver me ?" But Jesus 
is not far ofil This very pressure is his work. 
The sinner must be thus brought down to 
feel himself lost and perishing. And when 
the Spirit has accomplished this, it is an 
important and blessed step toward a full 
revelation of the riches of grace already- 
prepared for him. When he can say, Let 
me come as a beggar, let me go to the fields 
and glean — I am willing to be the lowest 
of the low if the Saviour will receive me ; 
ah, then, the Lord is ready to rise upon 
him with healing in his wings. The day 
of his salvation draws nigh. 

The next step is to take away all feeling 
of rebellious pride in their state of want. 
This sinful pride is a most common attendant 
upon our earthly distress. It is the maintain- 
ing and magnifying our own claims and rights 
to the reverence and regard of others. It is 
offended with outw^ard dishonor and want as 
if it were an injury inflicted upon us. Its 
opposite is meekness of spirit which feels our 



THE GLEANER. 251 

own unworthiness, and patiently endures tlie 
reproachj or the need, and commits itself to 
God. This pride is very different from digni- 
fied self-respect. That is a guarding of our 
character and soul from the real degradation 
of sin. Pride will submit to any secret mean- 
ness to avoid outward exposure to the con- 
tempt of others. Self-respect will do no 
wrong, however secret, because God whom we 
love and fear, always sees. Joseph had great 
self-respect. He was a poor bondslave, yet 
he says, " How shall I do this great wicked- 
ness, and sin against God .?" Nehemiah had 
great self-respect when he said, " Should such 
a man as I flee .^ I am doing a great work ; 
I will not come down." Kuth had great self- 
respect, a dignity of character that would 
have honored any condition in life. But she 
had no pride that rebelled against her condi- 
tion. She was not ashamed to be poor. " Let 
me glean after him in whose sight I shall find 
grace." This is a most happy and a most ex- 
emplary state of mind. She bowed down to 



252 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

the gracious will of God, and was ready to 
receive all his mercies to her as a gift of grace. 
She demanded and expected nothing as a 
claim of merit or right. How important to 
you is such an example. You may all become 
poor, very poor. Your gracious Master had 
not where to lay his head. There is no dis- 
honor in honest, patient poverty. Lazarus 
was fed with crumbs from the floor, on earth. 
But angels delighted to minister to him, and 
to carry him at his departure to a home of 
peace. Sin only is a dishonor to us. Every 
outward sorrow may be made an increase of 
our personal respectability, and really enhance 
the reverence which others are made to feel 
for us. Whatever be the trial, while we bear 
it with submission, and receive it from the 
Lord with patience, and strive to fulfill the 
special duties which it brings, it will be made 
the occasion of giving us still greater honor. 
Never, then, sufi'er the spirit of rebellious, 
worldly pride to arise within you, because you 
are poor, or sujffering, or neglected. Probably 



THE GLEAKEK. 253 

Euth was all these. Beyond doubt she felt 
the keenness of the trial. Yet she lays aside 
all pride in her condition, and instead of say- 
ing, " Mother, will you go and glean in the 
fields, you can do it better than I. They will 
reverence you, and not treat you unkindly or 
with contempt f she says, " Mother, let me 
go and glean. I am sure some one will pity 
and protect me. I shall find grace in the eyes 
of some one. God will take care of me. Let 
me go." Ah, how beautiful such a character 
is ! No wealth can exalt it. No station can 
adorn it. It is itself the ornament in the sight 
of God of great price. 

But it is thus God leads the sinful soul to 
its great Kinsman. His gracious plan is to 
give every thing freely, and to make man re- 
ceive his free gifts with grateful acknowledg- 
ment that he has deserved nothing. He 
thus hides pride from man, and takes all the 
glory to himself. The sinner is made to feel 
his deep unworthiness — to see that he is not 
only destitute, but guilty. He has no right 



254 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

to the least consideration or notice. If God 
should pass him over, and he should be per- 
mitted to glean no pardoning mercy, he could 
have no ground of complaint. He has not 
the remotest claim to any blessing. He feels 
that where grace abounds sin has also abound- 
ed. And though he will not sin that grace 
may abound, for he abhors his transgression, 
yet he rejoices to receive salvation as a gift, a 
free gift to his lost and guilty soul, a gift for 
which he has done nothing, and can never do 
any thing in the least degree to make it less 
free, or to make himself in any possible sense 
deserving of its bestowal. 

Thus the sinner who would rejoice in a Sa- 
viour's love must feel. But how long do we 
struggle against this spirit ! How hard it 
seems contentedly to depend on mere grace 
to the ungodly ! This is one main obstacle 
in the way of our salvation. It is the last one 
that is ever removed. We wish either to be- 
come worthy of God's mercy, or to do some- 
thing to repay it, or to have some character 



THE GLEANER. 255 

or feeling in ourselves that shall seem to be 
a reason for it. We desire to say, " God par- 
dons me because I have tried to obey him, or 
because I am sorry for my -sins, or because I 
now love his commands — ^but not because I 
am so guilty and completely lost." Yet all 
this mixing up of any thing of our own as a 
reason for his forgiving love, is sinful pride. 
It may sometimes be in the assertion that we 
do possess it, and sometimes in the distress 
that we can not get it. But it is all sinful 
pride which can not submit simply to believe 
God's word, and to be saved freely by his 
grace, and then to rejoice in him alone. And 
the Holy Spirit will make us feel our own un- 
worthiness, until we are perfectly willing to 
glean where we may find grace, and to receive 
mercy to the guilty, treading our pride for 
ever beneath our feet. 

The next step is one of gracious providence 
to bring her, as it were by accident, to an un- 
expected introduction to her rich kinsman. 
Kuth is wholly ignorant of him or of the loca- 



256 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

tion of his fields. She is equally ignorant of 
the exalted connection she is to have with 
him. In her deep necessity, her sincere sub- 
mission, her pure and unfearing modesty, she 
goes out to seek a provision ibr her mother's 
wants, not knowing whither she went. To 
her the future of life is darkness. But God, 
her gracious God, in whom she trusts, is 
light in whom is no darkness at all. What 
an encouragement to us does this ignorance 
of hers afford ! How abounding may be 
God's provided mercies for us ! We may be 
in the very depths of necessity, in want even 
of our necessary food, and yet God may be 
working out the most extensive plans of ben- 
efit for us. Remember that his gracious plans 
are all completely formed before any part of 
them are made known to us. And we are to 
go forward in the plain path of duty in our 
present condition, and leave all the future to 
be arranged and revealed to us according to 
his will. 

Ruth goes out into the har\'est-field of 



THE GLEANER. 257 

Judea, separated among its various owners only 
by the landmarks, which could not be dis- 
tinguished at a distance, not knowing to whose 
field she might be led. But God had dis- 
posed and prepared her way before her. And 
he could have told her the whole of her future 
history and course. His gracious providence 
leads her to the very place where he designs 
to bless her. " Her hap was to light on a 
part of the field belonging unto Boaz." The 
story is related in its appearance, as its events 
occurred. Her coming to this particular por- 
tion of the field seemed to be wholly acci- 
dental. But it was far enough from an acci- 
dent in reality. It was God's own plan for 
her, another part of which was now coming out 
to her view. And when at last she finds the 
gracious end to which the whole is brought, 
she could look back upon this, and say, " Now 
I know why I was made so poor, and led to 
Boaz's field to glean.'' 

How often is the gracious providence of 
God thus manifested in bringing the poor and 



258 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

perishing soul under the ministry of the Word. 
The sinner may wander into the field of 
grace, he knows not why, vrith. no idea of the 
Lord's provision of peace and security which 
are prepared for him. The great end to 
which all the arrangements of this gracious 
providence are directed is the saving of the 
.soul. And when we really find this salvation, 
and are made partakers of a Saviour's love, 
we may look back upon every event of the 
whole course through which we have been led 
as expressly arranged for the accomplishment 
of this end. This was the point to which every 
thing else was tending, and to which every 
other fact was subordinate. To trace this 
merciful process in our past lives is one of our 
highest privileges. It shows us God's whole 
design concerning us. AVe rejoice to know 
that he leaves no unfinished work, and that 
the good work he has begun for us, he will 
carry on unto the day of the Lord Jesus. It 
encourages our hope. It quickens our energy. 
It excites our determination. It comforts our 



THE GLEANER. 259 

depressions. It makes us happy even in our 
sorrows. How often have I traced this gra- 
cious providence of God in my own case ! 
How often in the case of others ! 

A young Englishman came as an agent 
of a Sheffield manufacturer to this country. 
He was engaged in his business in Philadel- 
phia for a few months. His "hap was to 
light" on a boarding-house opposite my 
church. Convenience brought him there to 
our worship. But there the gracious Lord 
showed him his need, revealed to him his 
pardoning mercy, and made him know that 
he was a child of Grod. And because he was 
a son, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son 
into his heart. I never knew him. In a 
few months he returned to England. Two 
years after I received, through the custom- 
house, a package containing a little legacy 
from him, with a letter from his sister. He 
had died of a consumption at home, and 
sent his dying message of love and gratitude 
to me, with this memento of his aifection, 



260 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

and an account of his happy conversion under 
the Gospel in that church. 

Two young men who had wasted their lives 
in profligacy and sin, and in their despairing 
madness had resolved to go out in a last 
debauch, and then become suicides together, 
passed our church on Wednesday evening, 
as our congregation were gathering there. 
They, unaccountably to themselves, were led 
to go in and seat themselves by the door. 
Grod sent an arrow of his truth to each of 
their hearts. They came out together when 
the service closed, each ignorant of the feel- 
ings of the other, and walked away for a 
time in silence. They soon announced to 
each other, in astonishment, their mutual 
feelings and new purpose of life. They 
walked the streets in conversation until 
morning. God had called them both to a 
knowledge of his love to them. ^' Their hap 
was to light" in the Saviour's field. They 
lived to witness a good profession. One was 
called to glory in his early manhood. The 



THE GLEANER. 261 

other still lives to preach the Gospel which 
he once destroyed. In all this you will see 
any thing but accident. 

Many such illustrations have I seen. How 
many daughters have I known, brought for 
education, where they attended our ministry, 
with no thought of the Lord's purpose con- 
cerning them, whose " hap " it was to glean 
salvation in the field of a gracious Kinsman 
of whom they had no knowledge. Singular 
are some such illustrations. A gay and 
fashionable young woman was under my 
ministry for a long time, with no apparent 
concern. One Thursday evening I was un- 
expectedly called upon to supply the pulpit 
of a clergyman who was ill, in another part 
of the city. The " hap " of this young lady 
was to pass that church just as the bell 
was ringing for worship. She did not know 
even what house of worship it was. But 
seeing the people going in, though she had 
never been to an evening service in the 
week before she joined them. To her 



262 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

astonislunent, her own minister arose to 
officiate. God sent the word to her heart, 
and she went home conscious of her guilt 
and danger in her unpardoned sin. On the 
next morning, before her own family had 
risen, she sought me for counsel and in- 
struction, and gave me the history of the 
evening's work, and of her sleepless, sorrow- 
ing night. God now sent his own Spirit 
to teach her the things which were freely 
given to her of God. She embraced the 
Gospel. She walked in a new life. She 
honored the Saviour in her family. She 
triumphed in the hopes of the Gospel, in 
a peaceful departure, after several years of 
fidelity to Christ, the memorj' of which was 
a precious legacy to those from whom she 
was taken. How wonderfid appear such 
facts ! But every Christian may find in 
his own life a providence just as distinct, 
if not so striking. Why these tilings are 
so an-anged we can give no account, but 
that which the Saviour gives : — '^ Even so. 



*THE GLEANEK. 263 

Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." 
The appearance is, that our lighting on the 
field of Boaz is a ^^hap/' But the result 
shows that this was God's own way to save 
and feed a child whom he had chosen for 
himself before the world began. And the 
issue is, that we give him all the glory who 
hath loved us, and called us with an holy 
calling, and made us everlasting partakers 
of a Saviour's triumph through the riches 
of his own grace. 

The next step in Kuth's history is the 
peculiar crisis at which she came into the 
field. It was at the time of a gracious visit 
from the master of the reapers, and the owner 
of the land. " Behold, Boaz came from 
Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers. The 
Lord be with you. And they answered him. 
The Lord bless thee." I need not stop to re- 
mark upon the value of this illustration of 
domestic and social relations. But how much 
better sounds the encouraging voice of re- 
sponsive religion, the mutual recognition of 



264 THE RICH KINSMAX. 

the presence of God by master and servants, 
than the language of censure and recrimina- 
tion ! How happily might we transfer the 
example of Boaz to the workshop of our 
artisans, the counting-house of our merchants, 
and the families of our housekeepers — and 
compel men who see them, to say, " Surely 
the fear of God is in this place !" Happy is 
the house or scene of business and occupa- 
tion where both the master and the servants 
are exercising themselves to maintain a con- 
science void of oftence toward God and 
toward men ; with good will doing service 
as unto the Lord, and not unto men. Huth 
could not have had a more encouraginor exhi- 
bition of her kinsman than this. She sees 
him first in the expression of his kindness to 
others. His manner and feeling are express- 
ive of the highest dignity and love. She can 
confide in him from the very start. She has 
no fears now that she may not ** find gr»ca 
in his sight." And as the sound of his cheer- 
ful salutation catches her ear^^ a^Kl she looks 



I 



THE GLEANEK. 265 

up to see the dignified form of the stranger 
who approaches with so much benevolence, 
and such consideration for the laborers who 
are gathering his harvest, she takes the ut- 
most encouragement for herself, and can 
glean with a freedom of spirit and thankful- 
ness of confidence, that she had not before. 
Ah, who can tell how much may be the in- 
fluence of words and acts of kindness and 
love ! They are not only " twice blessed." 
They may give life and hope to many who 
have had no connection with them but that 
of an accidental witness. They are an ex- 
penditure which can never be lost ; a cheap 
outlay for an investment of incomparable 
value. Kuth's whole life would probably 
carry the influence of this first opening ad- 
dress of Boaz to his servants. And in all her 
subsequent veneration for him, and delight in 
him, she could never forget the impression 
which his first appearance made upon her 
mind. 

How applicable to our purpose is this illus- 
12 



2GG THE RICH KINSMAN. 

tration ! The first sight of a Saviour is at- 
tractive and lovely to the seeking, sinful soul. 
The sinner comes into the midst of his flock, 
and is struck with the precious blessings 
which they enjoy. The shepherd stands in 
their midst. Jesus is there, to awaken, in- 
struct, sanctify, and feed his people. The 
hearts of all are evidently refreshed by him. 
He blesses them, in the ministry of his word, 
by the teaching of his Spirit. They praise 
him with grateful homage in return. The 
whole scene is awakeninor and attractive. 
The sinner's heart is moved and drawn. 

" 'Ti3 like a little Leaven below ; 

I have been there, and still would go." 

The Apostle says, '' Falling down on his face, 
he will worship God, and report that God is 
in you, of a truth." The Proj^het says, they 
shall say, " We will go with you, for we have 
heard that God is with you." Thus often the 
most abiding impressions of the value of re- 
ligion, of the excellence of a Saviour's worth, 



THE GLEANER. 267 

and the happiness of those who faithfully 
wait upon him, are received. Men are drawn 
to Christ, and made happy in trusting him, 
by the enjoyment which his people evidently 
derive from his service. And nothing is more 
important than that Christians should ever 
wear an aspect and maintain an influence 
which will adorn the doctrine they profess. 
" I see/' said Kichard Cecil, contemplating 
his own sinful, wasted life, in his youth, 
"I see two unquestionable facts. First, 
my mother is greatly afflicted in circum- 
stances, body, and mind ; and yet I see that 
she cheerfully bears up under it, by the sup- 
port which she derives from constantly re- 
tiring to her closet and reading her Bible. 
Second, that she has a secret spring of com- 
fort of which I know nothing ; while I, who 
seek pleasure by every means, seldom or never 
find it. If, however, there is any such secret 
in religion why may I not attain it as well as 
my mother ? I will immediately seek it from 
God. He rose from his bed instantly, and 



268 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

began to pray." His experience and reason- 
ing have been that of thousands. And when 
the Saviour comes in thus to bless his people, 
"sweetly the sacred odors spread." Sinners 
are drawn and encouraged to come to one so 
gracious and so compassionate. The reapers 
of his harvest are animated and strengthened 
by his presence, and the word of his grace 
goes out with special power to the souls of 
those who hear. 



" Adoring saints around him sUind, 

And thrones and powers before him fall; 
The God shines gracious through the man, 
And sheds sweet glories on them alL" 



XII. 



-" Then said Boaz unto his servant that was set over the reapers, Whose 
damsel is this? And the servant that was set over the reapers 
answered and said, It is the Moabitish damsel that came back with 
Naomi out of the country of Moab : and she said, I pray you let me 
glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves : 80 she came, 
and hath continued even from the morning until now, that she 
tarried a little in the house. Then said Boaz unto Euth, Hearest 
thou not, my daughter? Go not to glean in another field, neither 
go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens: let thine eyes 
be on the field that they do reap, and go thou after them : have I 
not charged the young men that they shall not touch thee? And 
when thou art athirst, go unto the vessels, and drink of that which 
the young men have drawn. Then she fell on her face and bowed 
herself to the ground, and said unto him, "Why have I found grace 
in thine eyes, that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing that 
I am a stranger ? — Ruth, ii. 5-10. 



"GrOD moves in a mysterious way his 
wonders to perform." He has wise and 
sufficient reasons for every step. He makes 
us at last to see the wisdom which has 



270 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

governed his whole course. But while his 
plans are coming out to our view, it is only 
a little j^art that is to be seen at a time. 
We must wait to the end to know his whole 
design. We can imagine many ways in 
which Boaz and Ruth might have been made 
acquainted with each other. But surely 
none which would have been better adapted 
to awaken the deepest and tenderest mutual 
interest in the mind of each. She appears 
in all the loveliness of \artuous modesty, 
humbly toiling for a mother's support and 
comfort, though unused to labor. How 
could he avoid the most affectionate con- 
sideration and respect for her ? The best 
daughter will habitually make the best wife. 
He appears before her clothed with dignity 
and benevolence. The law of kindness is on 
his tongue. His dependents delight to wel- 
come his approach. The whole appearance 
of this dignified and tender-hearted stranger 
would command her reverence and confidence. 
His aspect and voice took from her all fear in 



THE WELCOME RECEPTION.' 271 

the prosecution of her work, and his words 
of kindness made her at once happy and 
at home, though poor and a stranger in his 
field. We are now to witness their first 
mutual introduction, and the Welcome Ke- 
CEPTION which he gives to her. 

First we have the rich kinsman's notice 
of her, addressed to his head servant. 
"Whose damsel is this.?" The field of 
Boaz is a well-ordered field, in which is 
due subordination and respect, and no vio- 
lence or confusion. There was one set over 
the reapers who was held responsible for their 
conduct, and for the whole care of the field 
committed to him. And when the master 
comes to visit his land he calls this one 
to a special account. But extensive as are 
the concerns of Boaz, the poor stranger whom 
the Lord hath led there is not forgotten. 
Happy indeed is such prosperity as this ! 
The heart is not lifted up, the spirit is not 
made selfish and arrogant. There is a tender 
care for the poor maintained amidst the 



.J 



"ZrJ. THE RICn KINSMAN. 

enjoyments and luxuries of wealth. It would 
be difficult to tell which is the more beautiful 
aspect of human character, the open and 
generous liberality of the rich, or the patient 
and uncomplaining submission of the poor ; 
the " largeness of heart, like the sea-shore," 
of Solomon, or the quiet and contended en- 
durance of the widow of Sarepta. Both are 
here before us. One rich in acts of loye, and 
the other in the patience of hope and triaL 
And when Boaz came to yisit his plenteous 
fields, he saw nothing there so truly beautiful 
as the character and conduct of Ruth. His 
serrant, had he known the whole will of God, 
might haye given a far higher description of 
her than the mere account of her earthly or- 
igin, her poverty, and her toil. 

Thus the Saviour comes to visit his earthly 
field, and calls the servants whom he has 
set over it to account for their charge. He 
walks amidst the candlesticks, and holds the 
stars in his right hand. His ministers watch 
for souls as they who must give an account. 



THE WELCOME RECEPTION. 273 

Not the poorest stranger is unnoticed or for- 
gotten by him. It is a blessed thought. 
The Saviour sees. The poor, the lonely, the 
neglected, in all their needs and sorrows, are 
marked by his eye. The poor widow's two 
mites were not forgotten. The Syro-Phoeni- 
cian was not sent away. Bartimeus was not 
despised. Lazarus was not rejected. Jesus 
may be considered as asking his ministers 
continually, of one and another in their flock, 
Who is that ? And they should be able 
to reply. He will call them at last to an 
account for all, and for every soul intrusted 
to them they must answer. Happy, could 
they all say, 

" Hast thou a lamb in all thy flock 
My soul disdains to feed? 
Hast thou a foe before whose face 
I fear thy cause to plead?" 

Sad is the neglected church, where the pastor 
is not prepared for a question like this, in re- 
gard to all the members of his flock. He 
should be able to adopt the very words of the 
12* 



274 THE RICH KINSMAK. 

Great Shepherd, - I know my sheep, and am 
known of mine. Thev know my voice ; and 
they follow me." He should be able to take 
np to all, the exhortation of the Apoetle, 
*' Be ye followers of me, even as I am of 
Christ," What can compensate him for the 
shame of his ignorance and neglect, if the 
Saviotir shall ask in vain, '* With whom hast 
thou left those few sheep in the wilderness ?" 
Indulgences, enjoyments, honors, all will fade 
in that great day. What a dving reflection 
was that of the eminent Archbishop Williams 
in the reign of Charles I. : "I have passed 
through many places of honor and trost, both 
in Church and State, more than any of my 
order in England, this seventy years before. 
But were I assured that by my preaching I 
had converted but one soul unto God, I 
should take therein more spiritual joy and 
comfbrt, than in all the honors and offices 
which have been bestowed upon me." 

This question of Boaz brings us to the re- 
ply which the servant makes. He is not in- 



THE WELCOME KECEPTION. 275 

quired of in vain. He has made himself ac- 
quainted with the whole history of Kuth. And 
in giving his account, he uses great skill and 
kindness, in setting forth the advantageous 
circumstances of her case. He tells of her 
origin : She was a daughter of Moab, a 
stranger, " the Moabitish damsel." He tells 
of her return, her emigration from Moab to 
Israel : " She came back with Naomi, out of 
the country of Moab." He tells of her need ': 
her poverty compelled her to beg permission 
to glean ; of her gentle humility : " She said, 
I pray you, let me glean jand gather after 
the reapers among the sheaves ;" of her per- 
severance : '' She hath continued from the 
morning even until now." His account is 
marked by the evidence of the utmost kind- 
ness and compassion. He does not feel the 
poor and dependent to be in his way. Nor 
does her lonely poverty tempt him to treat 
her with negligence or disrespect. 

When we think of this, as an illustration 
of the account we may give of some daugh- 



276 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ters of the Lord Almighty who are committed 
to our charge, how appropriate seems the 
whole story. To create and maintain a fa- 
miliar and intimate acquaintance w^th the 
members of the flock committed to him, is a 
most important instrument of usefulness to a 
faitliful pastor. They should be made will- 
ing to seek his counsel. Their experience 
should prove him to be to them a confiden- 
tial, faithful friend. He should be acquaint- 
ed with their spiritual state, their minds, 
their peculiar feelings and circumstances. 
He should know their religious experience ; 
and encourage, at whatever cost of labor and 
occupation of his time, their free communica- 
tion of their doubts, and trials, and cares. 
The whole influence and value of his ministry 
will be greatly dependent on this knowledge 
of his people. The preacher's work can only 
be really efifective, and an instrument of bless- 
ing, as it rightly divides the word of truth, giv- 
ing to each their portion of meat in due season. 
The work of public preaching is far the least 



THE WELCOME RECEPTION. 277 

laborious and trying part of the ministration 
of the Grospel. And it is by no means the 
most important or the most useful part^ when 
separated from the faithful watchfulness and 
oversight of the sound and sympathizing 
pastor. 

But how happy is such an account of the 
Saviour's field as the head reaper here gives ! 
Suppose I could say of all the youthful females 
in the field around me, as each one severally 
appeared for my account, " This also was a 
daughter of Moab, but she has come back." 
How applicable to them would become Paul's 
account of the Corinthian Christians, " Such 
were you, but ye have been washed, ye have 
been justified, ye have been sanctified, in the 
name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of 
our God." She has come back. Under a 
deep sense of her sinfulness, and conscious of 
her empty, wasted life, she has come with 
self-renouncing humility, to glean in the Sa- 
viour's field. With persevering devotion she 
has continued from the morning even until 



278 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

now. She was a vain, worldly, thoughtless 
child of earth. But she has been converted — 
made a new creature — old things have passed 
away — all things have become new. Now 
she is in the world, but she is not of the 
world ; and the residue of her life she means 
to spend, though in the flesh, yet according 
to the will of God. Ah, what a happy ac- 
count would this be ! I would that I could 
imagine it a true account. But alas ! our 
daughters are not all Ruths. Frivolity and 
sin, the mirth and the sensual giddiness of 
Moab, hold too many of them in bondage 
still. When will they awake to see the folly 
of their earthly mind, to realize the wretched 
emptiness of a life of pleasure, dead while 
they live, and to rejoice in the permission to 
glean in the fields of grace and salvation, 
which their gracious but unknown Kinsman 
has spread before them ? Yet let me rejoice 
over many, very many, whom the Lord has 
given me, of whom this history of Ruth would 
"be a perfectly true account. God has permit- 



I 



THE WELCOME RECEPTION. 279 

ted me to be tlie instrument of leading many 
such from Moab to Bethlehem. They delight 
to gather now in fields of which they had be- 
fore no knowledge. They love the assemblies 
for the Saviour's worship. They value every 
opportunity of instruction in the Saviour's 
truth. They love to join the music of his 
praise. They rejoice in offering him the con- 
stant incense of their secret prayer. They 
gather happiness from the teaching of his 
word. They would rather be door-keepers in 
his house, than abide in the tents of ungodli- 
ness. They bear his cross with pleasure. 
They endure for him the voice of reproach, 
and the strife of tongues^ with unshrinking 
fidelity. They teach the ignorant. They 
minister to the poor. They console the sor- 
rowing. They are the joy and strength of 
loving parents. They bless their households. 
They adorn the doctrine they profess. Their 
example honors the Saviour, encourages the 
church, and wins even the admiration of the 
worldly. Is there any thing on earth so beau- 



280 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

tiful as this consistent, living course of youth- 
ful piety ? Is there an earthly treasure to a 
father's heart to he compared to a faithful, 
guileless, Christian daughter ? 

"And if there be a human tear, 
From passion's dross refined and clear, 
A tear so limpid and so meek, 
It would not stain an angel's cheek, 
'Tis that ■which pious fathers shed 
Upon a duteous daughter's head." 

Let me encourage such to press onward 
to the end. The fools of the world may 
scoff. But Jesus approves. The Spirit 
guides. Angels protect and guard. " Who 
is he that will harm you, if ye he followers 
of that which is good ?'' Glean on from 
morning until evening in the Saviour's 
harv^est. When you are wearied, repose, 
like Kuth, a little in the field. But leave it 
not. The Lord whom your souls love will 
be your comforter and friend — the strength 
of your heart, and your eternal portion. 
Every day will add to your happiness in his 
service. And as his smiles attend you, and 



THE WELCOME RECEPTION. 281 

his approving blessing follows you, and his 
gracious care prospers you, and leads you on 
through grace to glory, your path will be 
one of increasing happiness to the end. 

" High heaven, that heard your solemn vow, 
That vow renewed, shall daily hear. 
Till in life's latest hour you bow, 
And bless in death a bond so dear." 

The answer of the servant of Boaz leads 
us to Boaz's own address to the lonely 
stranger. " Hearest thou not, my daughter ? 
Go not to glean in another field ; neither 
go from hence, but abide here fast by my 
maidens : let thine eyes be on the field that 
they do reap, and go thou after them : have 
I not charged the young men that they shall 
not touch thee ? And when thou art athirst, 
go unto the vessels, and drink of that which 
the young men have drawn." How kindly 
and freely he welcomes her to his ample 
provisions ! And lest she should not under- 
stand the openness of his invitation, he calls 
her attention particularly to this fact of 



282 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

her entire welcome to every provision there. 
How he catechizes her in his offers of grace ! 
"Hearest hou not, my daughter?" Her 
modesty had retired from the praises of the 
serv^ant, and her gentle, humbled spirit had 
hidden itself from such an applauding in- 
troduction. And her rich kinsman kindly 
arrests her attention to the fact which he 
intended to impress, that she was to enjoy 
the provision for her wants with perfect 
freedom. The Saviour's grace is thus open 
and free. Whosoever will, may take of the 
water of life freely. Complete forgiveness, 
everlasting redemption, are offered without 
money and without price, to the acceptance 
of the sinner who will receive them. But 
man must be constantly assured of the free- 
ness of the Saviour's love, and urged to 
accept and embrace it. The Lord calls your 
attention especially to this. " Hearest thou 
not ?" ^' If any man thirst, let him come 
unto me and drink." " Whosoever cometh, 
shall in no wise be cast out." '^ Beheve, and 



I 



THE WELCOME KECEPTION. 283 

thou shalt be saved." Here are abundant 
supplies of all that you can desire or ask ; 
and all given without recompense, or hope 
of return from you. 

He urges her to remain in the field to 
which the gracious providence of God had 
sent her. " Go not to glean in another 
field." He would have the whole privilege 
and comfort of supplying all her wants. He 
has enough and to spare, and she need fear 
no lack of provision while she remains with 
him. He wishes not to divide with any the 
blessing of sustaining one so worthy of his 
care. Our gracious Kinsman feels equally 
jealous of any partnership or competition 
in his work of grace for you. He lets you 
know that if you attempt to be saved in any 
other way, Christ shall profit you nothing. 
There is salvation in none other. It is all 
of grace, and the works of righteousness 
which you can do effect nothing toward your 
justification in him. Go not then to glean 
in another field. Your salvation is all by 



I 

I 

284 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

faith in the perfect obedience and all-Biif- 
ficient death of the Lord Jesus Christ for 
you. Be satisfied with that. Live upon 
that. To whom else can you go ? He only 
has the words of eternal life. The field 
of human works and merit is there before 
you. But what can you get from that but 
condemnation and the wages of sin .^ The 
field of mere formalism and superstition is 
there. But it can yield nothing for you 
save despair and death. The field of earthly 
giddiness and indulgence is there. But this 
is polluted Moab again ; why will you run 
back to that .^ The field of indifierence and 
mere unbelief is there. But its fruits will 
be gall and wormwood at the last, when 
eternity overwhelms you, and you have no 
hope. There is no field in which you can 
gather happiness, and rest, and abiding peace, 
but the field of Christ. In that every pro- 
vision is made for your enjoyment for time and 
for eternity. And you will glean nothing there 
which will not promote your welfare for both. 



THE WELCOME EECEPTION. 285 

Well may we apply to you Boaz's address, 
'^ Go not from hence. Abide here fast by my 
maidens. Let thine eyes be on the field that 
they do reap, and go thou after them.'^ In 
similar words, the gracious bridegroom of the 
Church says, " Go thy way forth by the foot- 
steps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the 
shepherd's tents." Nothing is more import- 
ant for your religious character, than appro- 
priate religious society. The examples and 
influence of faithful people of God are a 
precious help to you in your Christian course. 
You read the biographies of those who have 
finished their course, and kept the faith 
and have entered into their rest. You have 
with you, and around you, many who are 
striving to wall^ in the strait and narrow 
way which leadeth unto life. Their light 
shines before you. Their daily walk en- 
courages and animates you. Keep fast by 
them. You have a faithful and simple min- 
istry of the Gospel. You have a pure and 
blessed form of public worship. Every benefit 



286 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

and advantage for you is there. You have 
the simple and appropriate ordinances of the 
Lord's house. Jesus has promised to meet 
you there. It will be good for you to be 
found in no other field. Be not tempted to 
the fields of error, or of mirth, or of worldly 
forgetfulness of God. Be the companion al- 
ways of those who fear God, and turn away 
your feet from the paths of evil men. The 
landmarks among these various fields, which 
separate them from the field which the Lord 
hath blessed, may not be always perfectly dis- 
tinct and apparent to you. Try no experi- 
ment how far you may go toward these 
strange fields and return in safety. Dwell in 
the heart of the land, and make the fact al- 
ways sure, that you are with the Lord and 
his chosen flock. 

Here you have ever}^ promise of protection 
and supply. Your gracious Kinsman has 
charged his ministers to help and guide you, 
not to hurt or hinder you. He has bid them 
draw for you water from the wells of salva- 



THE WELCOME RECEPTION. 287 

tion. And yours is the privilege of tlieir at- 
tainments and tlieir labors. Yain^ indeed, 
are all these without a Saviour's blessing. 
But Jesus will not leave you comfortless. He 
will come to you. His angels are guardian 
keepers, and ministering spirits for you. By 
them he defends you night and day. They 
take charge of the feeble and desolate of the 
flock. They bear you in their hands, lest you 
hurt your foot against a stone. Surely no 
offer can be made to you, like the privilege of 
gleaning in Jesus' fields of truth and grace. 
And when he stands before you like Boaz, 
with the words of such gracious welcome, 
your privilege is great indeed. 0, listen to 
his earnest exhortation and appeal, and let 
your glad heart respond to him. Yes, Lord. 
Here'will I dwell, and this shall be my rest 
for ever, for it is the very joy of my heart. 

" Thou in whose presence my soul takes delight; 
On whom in affliction I call; 
My comfort by day, and my song in the night, 
My hope, my salvation, my all. 



288 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

"0 why Bliould I wander an alien from thee? 
Or cry in the desert for bread ? 
Thy foes will rejoice when my sorrows they see, 
And smile at the tears I have shed." 

Ruth's humble and grateful answer to her 
unknown Kinsman may conclude our present 
thoughts. " She fell on her face, and bowed 
herself to the ground, and said unto him, 
Why have I found grace in thine eyes, that 
thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I 
am a stranger ?" 

What deep humility ! What conciousness 
of need ! What confession of her own unwor- 
thiness ! What affectionate gratitude for the 
kindness he has displayed ! It is just so that 
the loving-kindness of the Lord humbles the 
pardoned sinner to the dust. He feels him- 
self the object of such grace and boundless 
mercy that his own unworthiness and guilt 
are more apparent to him than ever before. 
Thus the Lord himself describes his mind, 
" That thou mayest be confounded, and never 
open thy mouth any more, because of thy 
shame, when I am pacified toward thee for 



THE WELCOME KECEPTION. 289 

all that thou hast done." The freeness of the 
divine love to our guilty souls, washing away 
all our sins in his own blood, covering us with 
his own perfect righteousness, and adopting 
and owning us as his children, when we were 
before so disobedient and rebellious, will al- 
ways thus humble us before Grod. It will 
make us more afraid to sin — more watchful 
against temptation — more anxious in every 
thing to do the will of God in time to come. 
We become earnest and watchful not to lose 
a privilege so great, or in any thing to offend 
or wound our loving Master and Lord. Our 
experience of his pardoning love carries us 
back to remember all our rebellions and sins 
against him. We see that it is he who has 
sought us, in his own electing, distinguishing 
love, and not we who first sought him. He 
says, " Ye have not chosen me, but I have 
chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should 
go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit 
should remain.'' All our boasting, therefore, 
is excluded by the freeness of his pardoning 
13 



290 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

grace, and the new creating power of his di- 
vine Spirit, who said to us " Live," when we 
were dead in our sins. Thus every real Chris- 
tian feels deeply humbled and abased in the 
presence of that holy Lord who became our 
kinsman that he might be our Redeemer and 
our Saviour. Thus the saints in glory feeL 
They cast their crowns before his throne. 
They proclaim Him alone worthy to receive 
the glory, who was slain, and has redeemed 
them to God by his blood, out of every kin- 
dred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and 
made them unto God kings and priests. 

My dear young friends, is this your mind ? 
Do you thus cast yourselves in the dust, with 
a deep sense of your sinfulness, before the feet 
of your gracious Saviour ? Have you ever 
come truly to his feet in the real renewing of 
your heart by the power of his Holy Spirit ? 
Does he see you casting out all proud thoughts 
of your own greatness, and desires for your 
own glory, and wishing to count ever}' thing 
but loss for his sake ? Can he testify to your 



THE WELCOME KECEPTION. 291 

inmost purpose and effort^ in every thing to 
honor him, and carry out his will ? Ah, this 
is religion. This is the work of his own hand. 
This is the blessedness of his people. This is 
the happiness of those who wait upon him. 
Seek it with all your heart — earnest, deter- 
mined to obtain a blessing of such inestimable 
worth, and to live alone and for ever, for that 
gracious Master who feeds you with the bread 
of his truth, comforts you with the refresh- 
ment of his promises, supports you by the 
power of his grace, and will receive you to the 
kingdom of his glory. 



XIII. 

" And Boaz answered and said unto her, It hath fully been showed me, 
all that thou hast done unto thy mother-in-law since the death of 
thine husband : and how thou hast left thy father and thy motlicr, 
and the land of thy nativity, and art come unto a people which thou 
knewest not heretofore. The Loed recompense thy work, and a full 
reward be given thee of the Loed God of Israel, under whose wings 
thou art come to trust Then she said. Let me find favor in thy 
sight, my lord ; for that thou hast comforted me, and for that thou 
hast spoken friendly unto thine handmaid, though I be not like unto 
one of thine handmaidens. And Boaz said unto her. At meal-time 
come thou hither, and eat of the bread, and dip thy morsel In the 
vinegar. And she sat beside the reapers : and he reached her parched 
com, and she did eat, and was sufficed, and left And when she was 
risen up to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, saying. Let her 
glean even among the sheaves, and reproach her not And let fall 
also some of the handfuls of purpose for her, and leave them, that 
she may glean them, and rebuke her not — Rmi, ii. 11-16. 

What mercies God is pleased to lay up for 
those who love him ! They cover all our 
wants in the present life, and all our possible 
desires for the future. Earthly friends may 
fail, and earthly sources may disappoint us. 



THE GRACIOUS APPEOBATION. 293 

But we can never really put the trust of our 
heart in God, and be disappointed in the end. 
Our fidelity to him may be secret — confined, 
as we suppose often, to the consciousness of 
our own hearts. But he brings our secret 
things to light, and openly rewards us for all 
that we have done and suffered for him, how- 
ever privately. 

Kuth begins now to reap the abundant 
harvest which is growing for her in the divine 
purposes of mercy — a harvest of which Boaz's 
fields are only a part, and of which indeed 
all that Boaz possessed was but a feeble il- 
lustration. She had been faithful in that 
which appeared to be the least, and now she 
was to be rewarded with that which seemed to 
be much. We proceed in her story with de- 
light, hardly knowing whether to admire it 
more as the history of her kinsman and her- 
self, or as an exhibition of the grace and 
goodness of our Lord and Saviour to whom it 
so clearly points. 

We have first to remark upon the gracious 



L. 



294 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

approbation which Boaz bestows upon her. 
She thought herself unknown, and perhaps 
neglected. But this gracious stranger ap- 
pears to be perfectly familiar with her whole 
history, and though he knew not her person- 
ally, her faithfulness to her mother had been 
fully related to him. It is thus you may 
often think yourself unknown, and unob- 
served in your efforts to do right in your dif- 
ferent relations of life, when there are many 
eyes upon you, watching your character, and 
many ears may be listening to what the Lord 
has enabled you thus to do for him. Give 
yourself no concern about this. Seek always 
the grace to think and to do such things as 
are right. God your Guardian and Protector 
will see that you have all the reputation and 
recompense which is good for you. What- 
soever things are pure, lovely, and of good re- 
port, follow after them, without reference to 
the knowledge or approbation of others 
around you. Ruth supposed herself concealed 
in the field of Boaz. But he declares to her 



THE GRACIOUS APPROBATION. 295 

that her faithfulness to Naomi had been fully- 
related to him, and he knew her well. In the 
most kind and delicate manner, he recounts 
the facts of her past history ; animating and 
encouraging her with just approbation, and 
not mortifying or abashing her with unreason- 
able flattery. He recites her love to her 
mother, her faith in God, her afiectionate 
trust in him, leaving all that she loved for his 
sake, and coming to join herself to his people 
whom she had not known before. It would 
not be an inferior use of this passage, to 
commend to your notice its refinement and 
dignity. What an illustration it is of that 
condescension without haughtiness, of that 
commendation without assumption, of that 
familiarity without coarseness, which are so 
peculiarly the attributes of a noble mind, and 
the results of what we call good breeding in 
social life. We may often have occasion to 
remark, that never was there given to man 
such a manual for elegance and delicacy with- 
out pretense, in his social relations, as the 



296 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

Bible gives. It is politeness proceeding from 
benevolence afid growing out of real sympa- 
thy, and, like the Greek word which means 
both, it is beautiful and good — and beautiful 
because it is good. 

But there is a far higher illustration here 
than this. Thus the Saviour recounts to 
his people, and for them, the acts of their 
life which have manifested their love to him. 
He pardons freely all their sins. He justifies 
them freely in his own obedience and merit. 
But then he tells us he is not unrighteous 
to forget their labors of love ; and that not 
even a cup of cold water given by them to a 
suffering brother, in his name, shall be for- 
gotten. He gives us an illustration, in the 
twenty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew, of the 
manner in which he will recite in their 
hearing the acts of their obedience, and thus 
shows them the way in which they shall have 
their due praise of God. Can you not under- 
stand well the distinction between being 
justified by the merits of your own works, 



THE GRACIOUS APPROBATION. 297 

and your works being accepted as the evi- 
dence of the reality of your faith and the 
sincerity of your love for Christ ? Nothing 
that you do is worthy the Saviour's notice. 
But nothing that you really do for him will 
be unnoticed by him. You will never be 
rewarded for your works. But you will be 
judged hy your works. They are the proofs 
of your faith, as the fruits on the tree are 
the evidences of its character and its worth. 
Jesus may say of many a poor, lonely gleaner 
in his field, who hardly supposes himself 
noticed by any one, who toils in the sincerity 
of his spirit, to do and to bear his Master's 
will, and feels himself to be less than the 
least of all the Lord's mercies to him : " Yes, 
I know thee well. I have seen all thy labors, 
all thine attainments, and all thy failures. 
I have seen thine endeavors to do right, 
when thine efibrts never came to any fruit. 
I have seen all thy sorrows over thine in- 
ability to accomplish more. I know thy 
temptations and thy difficulties well. I have 
13* 



298 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

seen thee leave the land of thy nativity, thy 
careless, sinful state — the companions and the 
pleasures of thy siur— and, forsaking father 
and mother, come to seek a shelter and a 
home with me. I have seen thee in every 
step of thy progress, as my own Spirit led 
thee on from strength to strength, in thy 
desire to do my will. And nothing that 
thou hast done for me shall be left without 
its reward/' Ah, thus does our great Kins- 
man notice us in all our conflicts and cares. 
He speaks his gracious approbation to our 
own hearts. He makes us feel a happiness 
and peace within, under his tender smile of 
approval, though the world may reject us 
and men may cast us out. His Spirit bears 
witness with our sjnrits, and brings the 
promises and presence of Jesus to our hearts ; 
and then we rejoice in tribulations, and 
prefer the reproach of Christ to the treasures 
of the world ; and choose rather to sufler 
affliction with the people of God than to 
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. 



THE GEACIOUS APPROBATION. 299 

Certainly there is nothing on earth so blessed 
and so precious as the approbation of our 
divine Master, speaking in our own hearts, 
of the service we have feebly but sincerely 
tried to render to him. 

But Boaz not only expresses approbation, 
he also speaks of recompense to Kuth. ^^ The 
Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward 
be given thee of the Lord God of Israel, 
under whose wings thou art come to rest/' 
She shall not be unrewarded. Naomi may 
not be able to do any thing for hei. But 
Naomi has other paymasters in the I^crd's 
employ beside herself. Our acts of //eiievo- 
lence and love for Christ's sake oi./i never 
go without their result of blessing ev^en in 
this life. The merciful man doeth good to 
his own soul. We comfort th^ aeedy and 
the sorrowing, and we are 'i}ma preparing 
comforters for ourselves in the persons of 
others whom the Lord m'JI raise up to 
minister to our wants. Wc aid the children, 
of the poor, and we arr* Uying up a heritag^v 



300 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

for our children in the kindness of others 
whom we know not. '' Blessed is he that 
considereth the poor ; the Lord will deliver 
him in time of trouble. The Lord will pre- 
serve him and keep him alive, and he shall 
be blessed on the earth." It would be an 
interesting subject for our observation and 
study, how constantly and regularly God 
repays our acts of love by others in their 
own kind. So that in mere material results 
we lose nothing. '' There is that scattereth 
and yet increaseth." " The liberal soul shall 
be made fat. And he that watereth others 
shall be watered also himself.' I knew a 
faithful woman who had been the succorer 
of many. But her husband died, and left 
her impoverished, in the settlement of what 
was considered a good estate. She had a 
son whom she tenderly loved, and whom she 
struETsrled to educate, and elevate from the 
depressing influence of unexpected poverty. 
A man of wealth became acquainted with 
her condition, and, through the agency of 



THE GKACIOUS APPROBATION. 301 

another, provided for the thorough education 
of the boy. The son became eminent and 
wealthy. The last years of his venerated 
mother were made rich and happy by his 
provision. She lived till he was fifty years 
of age. And prosperity and honor crowned 
them both. And better than all this, true 
religion adorned their characters, and made 
their habitation blessed. But the rich man 
who had educated him died insolvent, and 
left his own children without provision. And 
this boy, who was now a man of property 
and influence, took charge of them, and 
educated and established them in respectable 
life. And they still live to witness that the 
Lord is gracious, and that blessed is the 
man who trusteth in him. Here is recom- 
pense. And it would be recompense enough 
for all that man can do for his fellow man. 
" He that hath pity upon the poor, lendeth 
unto the Lord ; and that which he hath 
given will he pay him again." I have no 
doubt that when God reads to us his book 



302 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

of providence we shall see that this promise 
never failed in a single instance. 

But apart from this result of recompense, 
there is also our own happiness in the work 
itself. "It is more blessed," that is, it is 
happier, a happier state and habit of mind, 
a happier condition of feeling and thought, 
"to give than to receive." ^Yhatt3ver we 
do in kindness to others for Christ's sake, 
he returns to us in our own secret personal 
enjoyments. He ministers to us a peace and 
blessedness in the work which is our inward 
possession, and which comes to us without 
any reference to outward results. When 
Boaz said to Ruth, " The Lord recompense 
thy work," she might have replied to him 
that she was recompensed already. It was 
happiness enough in itself to labor for a 
mother that she loved. She was gathering 
far richer fruits than the scattered ears 
of her kinsman's corn. Her peaceful, hope- 
ful, grateful mind which God had given 
to her, under the truth that Naomi had 



THE GEACIOUS APPROBATION. 303 

taught her^ made the day of her labor for 
l^aomi a day of thankfulness. This is a 
recompense you will never lose in your efforts 
to honor the Lord in acts of benevolence 
and love^ at home or abroad. Be kind, be 
generous, be forbearing, be tender, be affec- 
tionate in your relations to all. Do it for 
Jesus' sake, because he has been so to you. 
And though you may be disappointed in some 
of the outward results of your efforts, you 
shall never fail in reaping this blessed harvest 
of joy within. How beautifully is this thought 
displayed in those anonymous lines ! 

"A poor, wayfaring man of grief 

Hath, often crossed me on my -way, 
Who sued so humbly for relief, 

That I could never answer Nay. 
I had not power to ask his name, 
Whither he went, or whence he came ; 
Yet there was something in his eye 
That won my love, I knew not why. 

" Once, when my scanty meal was spread, 

He entered ; not a word he spake ; 
Just perishing for want of bread, 

I gave him all ; he blessed it, brake, 
And ate, but gave me part again. 
Mine was an angel's portion then ; 
And while I fed with eager haste, 
The crust was manna to my taste. 



304 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

" I spied him where a fountain burst 

Clear from the rock ; his strength was gone ; 

The heedless water mocked his thirst ; 
He heard it, saw it hurrj-ing on. 

I ran and raised the sufferer up ; 

Thrice from the stream he drained mj cap ; 

Dipped, and returned it running o'er; 

I drank, and never thirsted more. 



" 'Twas night : the floods were out ; it blew 

A wintry hurricane aloof; 
I heard his voice abroad, and flew 

To bid him welcome to mv roof. 
I warmed, I clothed, I cheered my guest ; 
Laid him on mine own couch to rest ; 
Then made the earth my bed, and seemed 
In Eden's erarden while I dreamed. 



" Stripped, wounded, beaten nigh to death, 
I found him by the highway side ; 

I roused his pulse, brought back his breath, 
Kevived his spirit, and supplied 

"Wine, oil, refreshment ; he was healed. 

I had, myself, a wound concealed ; 

But, from that hour, forgot the smart, 

And peace bound up my broken heart. 

" In prison I saw him next, condemned 
To meet a traitors doom at mom ; 
The tide of lying tongues I stemmed, 

And honored him 'mid shame and scorn. 
My friendship's utmost zeal to try. 
He asked if I for him would die ; 
The flesh was weak, my blood ran chiU, 
But the free spirit cried, ' I will 1' 



THE GRACIOUS APPROBATION. 305 

" Then, in a moment, to my view 

The stranger started from disguise; 
The tokens in his hands I knew ; 

My Saviour stood before my eyes ! 
He spake, and my poor name he named ; 
* Of me thou hast not been ashamed ; 
These deeds shall thy memorial be ; 
Fear not ; thou didst it unto me.' " 



But Boaz prays for more than recompense. 
"A full reward be given thee, of the Lord 
God of Israel, under whose wings thou art 
come to trust." For full rewards in any 
course of human life, we must look beyond 
the present state of being. The Saviour says 
of the objects of beneficent action, " They can 
not recompense thee, but thou shalt be recom- 
pensed in the resurrection of the just." What- 
ever results come now from any of the acts of 
life, they are extremely partial. The final 
results are yet to be revealed. The death 
which is the wages of sin, is a death beyond 
the mere departure of a sinful spirit from the 
earth. And the glory which God has laid up 
for those who love him, it has not entered 
into the heart of man here to conceive. All 



306 



THE RICH KINSMAN. 



the present life is the mere seed time. The 
abundant harvest is to be gathered hereafter. 
But it will be surely gathered. The Sa\'iour 
shall himself minister to those who have been 
faithful to him here, an abundant recompense, 
a full reward. If he shall smile upon you in 
approbation when you meet him face to face 
— if he shall welcome you with approval when 
you stand before him in judgment — if he 
shall bid you enter into his joy when eternity 
opens its doors in your view — if he shall wit- 
ness to your fidelity in the presence of his 
angels — will not that one commencement of a 
happy eternity be in itself a full reward, an 
abundant recompense, for all that you can 
have done, or suffered, or lost for him, in the 
longest life of labor on the earth .^ And yet 
all that is but a commencement. The day 
has come when you shall be in the presence 
of the l^ord for ever — when the Lamb in the 
midst of the throne shall dwell with you, and 
feed you, and lead you to living fountains of 
water, and you shall go no more out. I am 



THE GRACIOUS APPROBATION. SOT 

not hesitating or scanty in speaking of this 
state of reward. No. Though you are justi- 
fied freely by the grace of God, and saved 
only by the death and resurrection of the 
Lord Jesus Christ for you, and nothing that 
you can do can have the least worth in the 
sight of an holy God, to challenge his favor or 
demand his acknowledgment, yet, nothing 
that you really do for Christ shall go without 
its reward. The hope of reward is not your 
motive, but the grateful love for Jesus who 
hath already saved you. But the love of 
Jesus for you has laid up for you the crown 
of his own righteousness, to be given to you 
in the last day. And he has himself assured 
you that what you sincerely do for his sake 
to the very least of his servants, the poorest 
of all whom his grace has saved, you do for 
him, and shall in no wise lose your reward. 

But while the Saviour thus animates and 
encourages his disciples with the blessed hope 
before them., see how the answer of Kuth to 
Boaz illustrates their self-renouncing mind. 



308 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

" Then she said, Let me find favor in thy 
eight, my lord, for that thou hast comforted 
me, and for that thou hast spoken friendly 
unto thine handmaid, though I be not like 
unto one of thine handmaidens." The more 
generously a noble mind is dealt with, the 
more humble and unassuming does it become. 
This is eminently the case vdth. the children 
of God when their divine Redeemer comforts 
and blesses them. Never do they feel so 
perfectly unworthy as when he pours the 
special ministration of the oil of gladness into 
their souls. He shows them his mercy and 
his faithfulness, and they are overwhelmed 
with a sense of their own utter guiltiness in 
his sight. This is their present mind : " Before 
honor goeth humility." It is the herald of 
exaltation, the attending minister of real ex- 
cellence. They are never separated. And 
the more glorious the exaltation of the honor 
becomes, the more multiplied will be the train 
and circle of the humility that waits around. 
How the Saviour illustrates this in the twen- 



THE GEACIOUS APPKOBATIOK. 309 

ty-fifth chapter of St. Matthew ! He recites 
the excellence of his people — he recounts the 
evidences which they have given of their 
fidelity to him — he proclaims the rewards 
which he bestows, accumulated as their faith- 
fulness has been made manifest. But he 
represents them as perfectly self-renouncing. 
" Lord, when did we do all this ?" So com- 
pletely is their mind and memory filled with 
his goodness that there is no standing-place 
there for any recollection of their own acts of 
love to him. So abounding and immeasur- 
able appears his love to them, that less than 
nothing in the comparison, seems every act of 
theirs for him in return. Like Kuth, they 
can praise him for the comfort he has be- 
stowed upon them, for the gracious and 
friendly way in which he has spoken to them. 
But all this only increases their sense of their 
own unworthiness of such mercy. And their 
cry and prayer is, that they may still find 
favor in his sight — that he would look upon 
them with eyes of mercy, and think of them 



310 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

according to his own grace, and not according 
to their merits. This is the true and constant 
operation of the free grace of the Gospel upon 
the believing heart. '' Faith worketh by- 
love." First, by the love of Christ, which it 
receives, to subdue and sanctify the soul ; and 
then by the love /or Christ which it produces, 
to glorify and honor the Saviour, on whom 
alone it rests. And throughout eternity it 
will say, " Not unto us, but unto thy name 
be all the glory, for thy loving-kindness and 
thy truth's sake." 

Boaz gracious provisions for the lonely 
stranger, crown and close this instructive 
interview. He invites her to come and par- 
take with him of the meal he had prepared 
for his servants. He seats her in honor 
among the reapers of his harvest. He reaches 
forth his own hand to feed her at his table. 
He satisfies her need completely, and she de- 
parts in peace. He gives command to his 
servants to allow her the utmost liberty in 
gleaning, without reproach. He bids them in 



THE GKACIOUS APPROBATION. 311 

the most delicate way to drop, as if by acci- 
dent, still more abounding supplies in her 
way, that she may have more than a common 
gleaner's portion. Was any conduct of man 
ever more delicate, dignified, or beautiful ? 
What a pattern it is of benevolence and re- 
finement ! But it is only a feeble illustration 
of the riches of a Saviour's grace. Is this not 
the very way in which our great Kinsman 
deals with those whom he loves and saves ? 
He comes to the earthly assemblies of his 
people, and sits at the table he has spread for 
them, and bids them all to eat of the bread 
which he has provided, and to drink of the 
cup which he has mingled. It is the bread 
of life. It is the cup of salvation. He calls 
the poor fainting sinner to come without 
doubt or fear and take his place among the 
company of the redeemed — for every thing is 
there provided which he can need — abounding 
grace for abounding sin. He bids them 
always freely come, without hesitation, nor to 
imagine that they can bring any thing to the 



312 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

feast which he has so bountifully prepared 
for the outcast and the poor. He ministers 
himself to their secret wants. He reaches 
forth with his own hand the parched corn of 
his sacrifice for them. He makes them, by 
his own S2)irit, to feed upon that one offering 
made for them in his own burnt sacrifice in 
their behalf And in this secret, personal, 
divine ministration of his Spirit to their souls, 
they eat, and are sufficed. It is hidden man- 
na. It is enduring meat. It is life-giving 
bread. And they go on their way rejoicing 
with exceeding joy at the unexpected gifts 
and mercies which their great Kinsman has 
bestowed. 

The Lord not only thus ministers to them 
personally. He also gives command concern- 
ing them. His ministers are sent forth to 
feed his jDCople. In the fulfillment of their 
duty, they may honestly strive to finish the 
work committed to them. But tliey are com- 
pletely ignorant of the Lord's gracious pur- 
poses to individuals in their ministry. They 



THE GEACIOUS APPEOBATION. 313 

try to break the bread of life, with wisdom 
and justice of application. But whom the 
Lord intends himself personally to feed, they 
can never know. They let fall the handfals 
of his truth, his gracious promises, his solemn 
warnings, his earnest appeals, in the pathway 
of the field as they go on their work. But 
who shall really gather them, Jesus the 
Master of the field alone can order. How 
often some perfect stranger comes into the 
Church of God, and finds there the very mes- 
sage which his soul required ! He sees a man 
who seems to tell him all that he ever did. 
The very secrets of his heart appear to be dis- 
closed. He wonders with amazement who can 
have proclaimed him there. He falls in secret 
on his face, and gives the glory to God. A 
handful has been dropped on purpose for him. 
The very thing he wanted, he has found. 
The very message he had longed for, he has 
heard. The Lord speaks to him face to face. 
" Surely," he says, " the Lord is in this place, 
and I knew it not." Ah ! this is wonderful 
14 



314 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ministration. But this is the Saviour's con- 
stant ministration. Thus he presents himself 
as the Master of our assemblies. Thus he 
comes as the great Prophet and Teacher of 
his people. Thus by his own Spirit he speaks 
in secret to their souls, and gives knowledge 
of salvation to those who are in darkness and 
the shadow of death. 

my young friends, may he speak so to 
you ! Open your hearts to receive his truth. 
Be grateful for his merciful visitations to you. 
Put nothing in his way, no obstinacy of your 
wills, no carelessness of your minds, no fret- 
fulness of your rebeUion, no pride of your 
unbelief, no hesitation to listen to, and obey 
his word. Is there a message from God for 
thee to-day ? Then gather it, and treasure 
it up, as dearer to you than thousands of gold 
and silver. All the things that can be de- 
sired are not to be compared with it. A mes- 
sage of salvation ! A call from Christ to his 
service and his kingdom ! An invitation to 
the marria'ge-supper of the Lamb ! An offer 



THE GRACIOUS APPROBATION. 315 

from the Son of God^ to feed and bless you 
with his own hands ! ! it is incomparable 
blessedness ! It is inconceivable glory ! And 
yet here it is, given to you, pressed upon your 
acceptance, thrust into your bosoms, asking 
only to be received. Do not reject it. Eter- 
nity can never remedy the loss which, in a 
moment of time, you may thus experience. 
The whole world can never repay for the fail- 
ure of the blessings which, in a handful of 
the Saviour's corn, in his own field, may be 
cast before you in vain. 



XIV. 

Bo she gleaned in the field until even, and beat out that she had gleaned ; 
and it was about an ephah of barley. And she took it up, and went 
Into the city : and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned: and 
she brought forth, and gave to her that she had reserved after she 
was sufficed. And her mother-in-law said unto her, Where hast thou 
gleaned to-day? and where wroughtest thou? blessed be he that did 
take know^ledge of thee. And she showed her mother-in-law with 
whom she had wrought, and said, The man's name with whom I 
wrought to-day is Boaz. And Xaomi said unto her daughter-in-law, 
Blessed be he of the Lord, who hath not left off his kindness to the 
living and to the dead. And Naomi said unto her, The man is near of 
kin unto us, one of our next kinsmen. And Kuth the Moabitess said. 
He said unto mo also. Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until 
they have ended all my harvest .And Naomi said unto Ruth her 
daughter-in-law, It is good, my daughter, tliat thou go out with his 
maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field. So she kept fast 
by the maidens of Boaz to glean unto the end of barley-harvest and 
of wheat-harvest; and dwelt with her mother-in-law. — Evrn, li. 
17-23. 

How important an office in the provision 
for human happiness does memory sustain ! 
We are constantly ascending hights in our 
journey through Hfe, from which we look 
back upon the ground over which we have 



J 



THE HAPPY DISCOVEKY. 817 

passed. As we go on, the elevation of these 
hights increases to the end, and we take still 
wider and further views of our own conduct 
and character as they pass before our mind. 
When the end of the present life shall come, 
and from eternity we look back upon the 
whole, how much of our happiness must de- 
pend upon the memory of the past ! God has 
graciously designed our memory to be the re- 
pository of joys for us. Every passing day 
should awaken new songs of gratitude for his 
goodness. And the close of life ought to be 
filled with expressions of our thankfulness for 
the mercies which have crowned the whole. 
But if we are compelled to look back upon 
privileges despised, upon mercies wasted, 
upon precious offers of salvation cast away, 
upon life all consumed in laboriously doing 
nothing, how can memory fail to be a store- 
house of sorrow ? We are compelled to re- 
member, and we have nothing to remember 
but that which gives us pain. 0, that I 
could impress upon all my young friends the 



318 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

importance of filling up their life, from the 
heginning, with happy provisions for the em- 
ployment of memory in the end ! 

This is the point beautifully illustrated for 
us in the present portion of the history of 
Ruth. What successful gleanings in a right 
field ! She perseveres with patience to the 
end of her day. No gracious kindness of 
Boaz diminishes her iudustr}\ She does not 
sin because grace abounds. She is not tempt- 
ed to idleness and self-indulgence because 
her wants have been so abundantly cared for 
by him. His tenderness to her becomes, on 
the contrary, a motive for increased energy 
and faithfulness. The Christian says. Now 
let me run, because I shall obtain. Let me 
work with earnestness and fidelity, because 
God worketh with me, according to his good 
pleasure. The more the Saviour blesses us, 
the more should we feel encouraged to do his 
will. The very kindness of his invitations 
and his promises sustains our faith and pa- 
tience to the end. Thus glean cm until the 



THE HAPPY DISCOVEKY. 319 

evening. Lay up for yourselves a good found- 
ation, and build upon it to the end. Let 
your evidences and fruits be abundant and 
clear, that an abundant entrance may be 
ministered to you in the end, into the ever- 
lasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. Kuth beats out the barley she 
had gathered, about an ephah, nearly a 
bushel. It was a most successful result of 
her labor for the day. Surely as she looked 
upon it, her heart swelled with gratitude to 
God who had led her there, and to Boaz who 
had welcomed her with such compassion. 
Her spirit rejoiced in the anticipation of her 
mother's delight, when she should see the 
successful result of her work. Now she might 
reverse Naomi's account of herself, for she 
went out in the morning empty, and came 
back in the evening full. She took up her 
load with joy, heavy as the burden of it really 
was, and probably no evening of her life had 
ever been so happy as this, on which she re- 
turned laden with the fruits of her own in- 



320 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

dustry, and uf Boaz' munificence to her. 
She forgot that she was a beggar, in the 
joyful result of the Lord's goodness to her. 

This I call successful gleaning in a right 
field. Will a life's gleaning in any other 
field but that of your rich Kinsman give you 
the same result ? Will the gleanings of sen- 
sual pleasure, or of giddy frivolity, or of accu- 
mulating gain, or of earthly ambition, or of 
mere indulgence and gratification in any 
shape, lay up for you this evening fullness on 
which your memory may delight to dwell ? 
Will you look back upon a merely worldly, 
selfish day, when the shadows of the evening 
are stretched out, and feel that it has been a 
happy one ? Will you love then, in the pros- 
pect of eternity, to count your gleanings there, 
and contemplate the pleasures which they 
have successively afforded you ? Ah, why do 
I ask you ? I know it all before your evening 
comes. " Miserable comforters are ye all," 
^dll be the bitter expression of your anguished 
hearts. The hour has then arrived when 



THE HAPPY DISCOVEKY. 321 

these painted vails are all decayed, and the 
■wretchedness of a life of sin will be seen and 
felt, without a comforter. There is no suc- 
cessful gleaning but in the field of Jesus. 
There are blessings unmingled, pleasures with- 
out alloy, riches that wax not old. However 
unworthy may appear your very best attain- 
ments, however idle and empty may seem 
your most devoted hours, when compared 
with the worth of the object, you have pur- 
sued, there will be no disappointment in the 
object itself. Memory will delight to dwell 
on the love you have received, on the Saviour's 
kindness in leading you to his field, on the 
gracious welcome which made you there at 
home, on the many tokens of his favor to you, 
on the gifts of grace which have made your 
day often unspeakably happy, on the divine 
strength which encouraged and enabled you 
to persevere in the path in which he led you. 
And then, when you reflect upon all that he 
has done for you and with you, what antici- 
14* 



322 THE RICH KIXSMAN. 

pations of delight will arise in the contempla- 
tion of the future ! 

" Hia voice, as the sound of the dulcimer sweet, 
Is heard through the shadow of death ; 
The cedars of Lebanon bow at his feet, 
The air is perfumed with his breath. 

" He looks, and ten thousands of angels rejoice, 
And myriads wait for his word; 
He speaks, and eternity, filled with his voice^ 
Reechoes the praise of the Lord." 

But we may follow Kuth with the result of 
her successful gleanings to her mother's home, 
and there we find them in mutual congratu- 
lations over the goodness of the Lord to them 
both. She carried home her treasure, both 
the gleanings of the field, and the portion of 
the provision which Boaz gave her. Naomi 
looked with astonishment upon her success. 
Where could she have gleaned to bring back 
such a result as this .^ Who was it that had 
so favored her gentle, lonely daughter ? Be- 
fore she has time to learn, she pours out her 
prayer for the gracious blessings of God to 
rest upon him. " Blessed be he that did take 



THE HAPPY DISCOVEKY. 323 

knowledge of thee." It was an evening of 
peace without anxiety, of pleasure without 
remorse. Which of them derived the most 
pleasure from the goodness of God, that had 
so favored and blessed them on that day, it 
would be difficult to say. Such mutual con- 
gratulation and delight can come only in the 
train of true piety and of faithful devotion to 
a Saviour's cause. Whether you examine the 
successive results of life as they are passing, 
or consider the full issue of it when the whole 
has gone, the privilege of true Christians is 
sincere and constant congratulation. The re- 
sult of all earthly schemes and pursuits is 
disappointment and recrimination. You may 
follow the children of pleasure and folly to 
any point of their history, and whenever 
they stop to consider, you find them looking 
back with regret and anguish, and looking 
upon each other with hostility and bitterness. 
How often must they exclaim that others 
have beguiled them into sin ; others tempted 
them to transgression. They suffer painful, 



324 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

dreadful loss, but they charge their guilt, in 
part at least, upon the companions of their 
sin. This mutual recrimination among un- 
pardoned sinners can not but be a permanent 
result of their transgressions. Whatever they 
have gained when God taketh away their 
souls, their only portion is the bitterness of 
remorse, hateful and hating one another. 
But the gatherers in the field of Jesus find 
unmingled joy. He that soweth, and he that 
reapeth, rejoice together. Converted parents 
and children delight in each other. Pastors 
find the ransomed souls which have been 
given to them, their joy and crown of rejoicing 
in the presence of the Lord at his coming. 
As the children of God press onward together, 
^' Oft in danger, oft in woe," they sing to- 
gether of the loving-kindness of the Lord. 
Retrospection and hope, anticipation and 
memor}^ combine together, to cause them to 
triumph in every place. The Euths come 
home to pour out the treasures of grace which 
they have received, and the Naomis give 



I 



THE HAPPY DISCOVERY. 325 

thanks over them for the goodness which has 
taken such knowledge of them. Upon every 
such habitation the glory of God rests as a 
crown and a defense. Increasing happiness 
marks the character and experience of every 
religious family, and the ways through which 
God leads them are ways of pleasantness and 
peace. These mutual congratulations consti- 
tute one of the greatest comforts of their jour- 
ney in hfe. And the glorious revelations of 
eternity, when the saints of God have all ar- 
rived at their home in safety, will show them 
rejoicing over each other with joy and sing- 
ing, and uniting in a new and everlasting 
song of praise for all the triumphs of divine 
grace, and the treasures of divine love which 
they have received. How attractive, my dear 
young friends, is this view of the Christian's 
condition ! He may be poor, and yet he is 
happy. He may be lonely, and yet thousands 
rejoice over him. He may think himself un- 
known, and yet there are thousands in whom, 
if he should pour out his heart to them, he 



326 THE RICH KINSMAN 

would find the truest and deepest sympathy. 
let us cast our lot with them ! 

Ruth, made happier by her mother's grat- 
itude and joy, tells her in whose fields she 
had been so successfully employed. ^' The 
man's name with whom I ^^TOUght is Boaz." 
He was a stranger to her, but not to Naomi. 
And Naomi instantly discerns the peculiar 
providence which had thus led her daughter 
to her kinsman's field. She sees the good- 
ness of the Lord in this unexpected arrange- 
ment. This was the kindness of the Lord 
continued to the living and to the dead. 
And she gratefully prays that the blessing 
of this fixithful God may rest upon Boaz, 
who had been employed as the instrument 
of his mercy this day. She revealed at once 
to Ruth his peculiar relation to them. He 
was their near kin, one of their next kins- 
men — the goel to whom they had a right 
by God's own law to look for protection and 
support. I have explained to you before 
the rights and obligations of this appointed 



THE HAPPY DISCOVERY. 327 

kinsman. These divine appointments I^Taomi 
now explained to Kuth. How happy was 
the discovery that was thus made ! Kuth 
found not only that she was not deserted, 
as she supposed, but that the very man 
whose relationship she might claim, was the 
one who had extended such kindness to her 
when he was unknown and a stranger. Their 
evening's conversation had now a new sub- 
ject. And the hours would appear short 
while they dwelt together upon their kins- 
man's tenderness, fidelity, and love. 

Thus, as the two disciples went upon their 
road to Emmaus, a stranger joined their 
company. He asked the cause of their sad- 
ness. He remonstrated with their unbelief 
He opened the sacred Scriptures, and showed 
them the divine provisions of a suffering and 
triumphant Saviour. He joined them at 
their table, and brake their loaf and gave 
it to them with his own hands. Their eyes 
were opened. It was their Lord. They 
remembered how their hearts had burned 



328 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

within them while he opened the bread of 
life to their souls. How happy was the dis- 
covery ! They could not contain it in them- 
selves. Though it was night, and they were 
sheltered, as they had thought, for the night, 
they instantly arose and walked back their 
sixty furlongs' journey to Jerusalem, to tell 
of all they had seen and heard. Ah, how 
often is this happy discovery made ! We 
find the gracious Lord who has fed, pre- 
served, and blessed us, is our own glorious 
Eedeemer. Our hearts are converted to him. 
Our eyes are opened to see him. His perfect 
Deity becomes manifest in his word. His 
obedience and death for us are clear and 
distinct before our view. His precious blood 
cleanses us. His gracious providence rules 
us. His Holy Spirit guides us. His ever- 
lasting arms are under us. We are no longer 
stranorers to his love. We now know who 
he is, and what he is. And we look back 
and love to recount the many blessings which 
we have received from his hands. This is 



THE HAPPY DISCOYEEY. 329 

the result of simple Gospel teacliing under 
tlie blessing of the Holy Spirit. We have 
learned something of the goodness and wis- 
dom of God before, as our divine Creator — 
something of what is called natural theology. 
But when the Holy Spirit teaches our hearts 
of the fullness of Christ, then we find that 
our divine Creator is also our dying and 
exalted Kedeemer, our Kinsman and our 
friend. This is most precious, happy infor- 
mation. With what simple faith we can 
now come to him ! With what affectionate 
love we can now embrace him ! All that 
we can desire or want seems now to be laid 
up in him. We love to think of him — 
to speak of him — to hear of him. All 
that we know of him only makes us the 
more anxious to know him more per- 
fectly. We welcome the ministry that 
preaches of him. We love the Bible that 
proclaims him. He has unsearchable riches 
of grace, and is all our salvation and all 
our desire. 



330 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

" Forgotten is each worldly theme 

"When Christianfl meet together thus ; 
"We only •wish to epeak of him 
"Who lived, and died, and reigns for us. 

*' "We talk of all he did and said, 
And suffered for ua here below ; 
The path he marked for us to tread. 
The love he liveth still to show. 

" Thus, as the moments pass away, 
"We love, and wonder, and adore ; 
And hasten on the glorious day, 

When we shall meet to part no more.'' 

This happy discoven- begins at once to 
open its blessed results to Ruth and Naomi 
How changed becomes the scene of their life ! 
How the memory of the past now mingles 
its light with the joyful anticipations of the 
future. The first result is their mutual 
agreement to abide, as their choice, by the 
hopes which now seemed opening before 
them. Euth recounts the gracious en- 
couragement of Boaz to remain in the field 
to which the Lord had directed her steps, 
imtil the whole harvest had been completed. 
" He said unto me, thou shalt keep fast by 
my young men until they have ended all 



I 



THE HAPPY DISCOVERY. 331 

my harvest/' And ISTaomi responds with 
her cordial approbation. "It is good, my 
daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, 
that they meet thee not in any other field." 
This is their united choice and determination. 
And this determination Kuth carries out in 
her persevering conduct. " She kept fast 
by the maidens of Boaz.'' She persevered 
in her gleanings in his field till both the 
barley and the wheat harvests, which were 
nearly two months apart, were completed. 
It is an interesting illustration of youthful 
fidelity in the Saviour's work. Faithful 
perseverance in the right path even to the 
end. Such fidelity makes its distinct and 
decided choice. The heart can not serve God 
and mammon. The treasure of the soul 
must be single, and its pursuit entire. The 
Saviour's field is perfectly distinct. To be 
in the world as he was in the world, can 
never be unintelligible. To walk in his 
steps, in active duty, and submissive and 
patient endurance, can never involve mys- 



332 THE men kinsman. 

teries of conduct for our interpretation, 
though, to our evil and corrupt hearts, it 
may be extremely difficult of attainment. 
We can never doubt what positive and true 
religion is in the human character, or what 
it requires of us ; our questions are never 
on the side of things which are certainly 
right ; but on the side of those which are 
possibly wrong. In such cases, there can 
be no question that it is right to abstain 
from that which is not perfectly free from 
doubt in its indulgence. Happy is it for 
the young Christian to take a decided, posi- 
tive standard of conduct ; and in all things 
to seek and to 2)ursue that which is mani- 
festly good to the use of edifying, and 
adapted to minister to a growth in grace, 
and a real likeness to a holy Master. Such 
will avoid the scenes and instruments of 
temptation. " It is good that they meet thee 
not in any other field." Let the Gospel 
itself minister to your pleasures, and be the 
source of your happiness. Ask for nothing 



THE HAPPY DISCOVERY. 333 

whicli you can not find there. Be contented 
with the blessings which are there provided^ 
and find in the peaceful and self-approving 
service of your gracious Saviour a joy which 
all the stormy raptures of the earth can 
never give. 

In this simple spirit of fidelity persevere to 
the end of his whole harvest. Boaz began 
his barley-harvest with presenting to the 
Lord his first gathered sheaf, as the first 
fruits of a harvest to come. He ended his 
wheat harvest, with an ofiering of two loaves 
made of fine flour, as an acknowledgment of 
his work completed, and his toil repaid. 
Thus in the day of your conversion, render 
yourself a youthful servant — your best afiec- 
tions, and your most sincere and earnest de- 
terminations, as a sheaf of your first-fruits for 
Christ. Through the whole of a Christian 
life, however long, persevere still in your 
simple, single walk with God, and devotion to 
your chosen Master. And be ready, when 
your work is all complete, to present your 



334 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

loaves of fine flour at the close, the record, 
the fruit, and the evidence, of a whole life 
devoted with conscious sincerity to the cause 
of the one Great Master whom you have 
chosen as your own, and whom you have de- 
sired faithfully to follow. Set out with the 
determination, they shall find me in no other 
field. As long as I live, will I be given to 
the Lord. Him only will I serve. Maintain 
your choice and your stand to the end. And 
have the blessed privilege of looking back to 
feel that your whole life has been really given 
a living sacrifice to him. Jesus will present 
you in your new birth for him a sheaf before 
the Father's throne, acceptable and well- 
pleasing in his sight. He will also present 
you as his well-sifted and baken loaves, 
proved and tried, when your earthly work is 
finished, and your heavenly life begins. Let 
all these illustrations meet in you. Happy 
will be the life which they describe, and 
happy the death to which it leads ; and hap- 
pier far, the eternity, in the glories of which 



J 



THE HAPPY DISCOVERY. 335 

it results at last. Never, as the fruit of such, 
a life, will you look back upon the past with 
regret ; or round upon your companions with 
bitter criminations ; or forward to the results 
of life with fear. Memory and hope will 
unite to fill your cup with joy, and to minis- 
ter to all your hours of pleasure their com- 
bined increase. Every source of reflection 
becomes a source of happiness. Every object 
of contemplation an agent or minister of good 
to you. You may in all things rejoice — in 
every thing give thanks. You may adopt 
those affecting lines of Toplady — 

"Sweet to look upward to the place 
Where Jesus pleads above ; 
Sweet to look inward, and attend 
The whispers of his love. 

" Sweet to look back and see my name 
In life's fair book set down; 
Sweet to look forward, and behold 
Eternal joys my own. 

"Sweet to reflect how grace divine 
My sins on Jesus laid ; 
Sweet to remember that his death 
My debt of suffering paid." 



XV. 

"Then Naomi, her mother-in-law, said unto her, My daughter, shall I 
not seek rest for thee, that it may be well with thee? And now is 
not Boaz of our kindred, with whose maidens thou wast? Behold, he 
■winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing-floor. Wash thyself 
therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get 
thee down to the floor; but make not thyself known unto the man 
until he shall have done eating and drinking. And it shall be when 
he lieth down that thou shalt mark the place where he shall lie, and 
thou Shalt go in and uncover his feet, and lay thee down ; and he will 
tell thee what thon shalt do. And she said unto her. All that thou 
saycst unto me I will do. And she went down unto the floor, and did 
according to all that her mother-in-law bade her. And when Boaz 
had eaten and drunk, and his heart was merry, he went to lie down 
at the end of the heap of corn. And she came softly and uncovered 
his feet, and laid her down. .And it came to pass at midnight, that 
the man was afraid, and turned himself; and behold a woman lay at 
ids feet. And he said, Who art thou ? .And she answered, I am Euth, 
thine handmaid ; spread therefore thy skirt over thine handmaid ; for 
thou art a near kinsman. — Kutii, iii. 1-9. 

How many are ready to exclaim, " Rest 
for my soul I long to find V When we have 
been harassed and driven by the pressure of 
outward cares, or burdened and made sad by 
disappointment and affictions, or made to see 



THE PLACE OF REST. 337 

and feel tlie heavier burden of inward sin, tlie 
thing for which we ask is rest. The youthful 
and animated eagerly seek for pleasure and 
excitement. The aged and the weary desire 
only rest. To be freed from burdens and 
toils and human sorrows is in itself, in their 
view, to be happy. And the subject which 
we have now before us illustrates and answers 
the inquiry for rest. It shows us the place of 
rest. It describes the way to rest. It exhib- 
its the rest we need and get. The only place 
of rest for the sinful soul is at the feet of a 
resting Saviour. Jesus says with the utmost 
freedom and assurance, " Come unto me, all 
ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will 
give you rest." 

Naomi says to Euth, " shall I not seek rest 
for thee, that it may be well with thee ?" She 
desired rest from her wanderings in a home 
of peace ; rest from her poverty in a sheltered 
provision for her wants ; rest from her loneli- 
ness in the sympathy and tenderness of others, 
who could encourage and protect her ; rest 
16 



338 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

from her anxious cares in some merciful and 
sufl&cient arrangement for her future welfare. 
The need of all this in Ruth's solitary and 
exposed condition, Naomi well understood, 
and therefore wisely and kindly planned for 
its attainment. 

But we may well immediately carry her 
question forward to another and higher appli- 
cation. There is a rest which we all should 
seek, both for ourselves and for each other. 
It is rest from the condemnation of our guilt, 
and the just fear of its punishment ; rest 
from the bitter accusations of our own con- 
science, and pardon and peace to be minis- 
tered there ; rest from our agitating passions 
and corrupt desires, in the renewing of our 
mind and heart for the service and love of 
God ; rest from the rebellion of our perverse 
wills, in quiet submission to the divine will 
and commands ; rest from all anxieties for 
our future life, in an assured trust in the mer- 
ciful and gracious providence of a faithful 
Creator ; rest from all terrors and doubts in 



THE PLACE OF BEST. 339 

connection with another life to come, in that 
perfect love of Christ which casteth out fear. 
We need that peace which God alone can 
give us, and which his Spirit only can minister 
to our hearts. While we are unpardoned in 
our guilt, and unconverted in our hearts, we 
can have no rest. Not all the provisions of 
the world could give us the rest we need. 
You wander in sin and folly, and your souls 
remain unsatisfied and unblest, having no 
hope, and without God in the world. How 
sad and wretched is such a state of mind ! In 
the midst of outward blessings which you can 
not enjoy, because your hearts within have no 
peace with God ; in the possession of advan- 
tages and gifts which seem to be vain, from the 
sadness and loneliness of spirit which still reigns 
within. This is the state of worldly minds 
around us. '^ Who will show us any good ?" 
they cry on every side, because their real, great 
wants are perfectly unsatisfied. "There is 
no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." 
When we see and think of such unhappy 



340 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

persons, shall we not seek rest for them, and 
shall we not urge them to seek for rest, that 
it may be well with them ? This is the ob- 
ject for which the Gospel is preached among 
them, to awaken their minds to seek and ob- 
tain the rest in God which it oflfers. We 
know that the soul which has no rest in 
Christ, can have no rest in any other possess- 
ion. You may for a season blind your eyes 
to your need, and harden your hearts against 
the sorrows which the consciousness of that 
need will bring upon you. But this is a tem- 
porary delusion. Its power to deceive will 
soon pass by. Your days of indulgence and 
folly will come to their inevitable conclusion. 
You can then be imposed upon no longer. 
God will send his convincing Spirit to your 
conscience, and sin in its condemning power 
■svill revive, and all your joys will die. Then you 
will seek for rest. Your heart will cry out, — 

*' 0, where shall rest be found ! 
Best for the weary soul ; 
'Twere vain the ocean's depths to sound, 
Or pierce to either pole. 



THE PLACE OF BEST. 341 

" The world can never give 

The peace for wMch we sigh. 
It is not all of life to live, 
Nor all of death to die." 

Now, we knew all this before, and with the 
earnest anxiety of real affection for you, and 
interest in you, we say, " Shall we not seek 
rest for you, that it may be well with you ?" 
Never can it be well with you until you find 
that rest which the present world can never 
give you. 

This rest of which we speak is only to be 
found at the feet of a resting Saviour. I 
should esteem it very wrong and unnecessary 
to enter into any attempted apology for 
Naomi's direction to Kuth. I should be sorry 
to think any such attempt were necessary. 
The divine law gave to Kuth the right to her 
kinsman's protection and guardian care. And 
Naomi, in perfect confidence in the religious 
integrity of Boaz, and the virtuous purity of 
Kuth, laid out the plan by which, in what 
she esteemed the best and most proper way, 
she should present her claim to her kinsman's 



842 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

protection and notice. The primitive and pas- 
toral life to which they were habituated, made 
that conduct consistent with the propriety of 
their several characters, which other circum- 
stances of life would not allow. And it would 
be equally dishonorable to ourselves, and in- 
jurious to the history, to take any other than a 
religious view of the scene which it describes. 
Boaz has finished the labor of gathering 
his harvest. He has ^^innowed his grain from 
the chaff He has celebrated with grateful 
joy his harvest festival. And, in the sim- 
plicity of his rural habits, he reposes himself 
after the weariness of days of labor, at the 
end of the heap of corn which he had 
gathered. He has completed his work, and 
entered into his rest. How beautifully the 
story illustrates the triumphant rest of our 
glorious Kinsman and Redeemer ! He came 
to earth for his day of toil and travail. On 
these very fields of Bethlehem he began the 
work of that acceptable day of the Lord. 
He journeyed patiently through all its hours 



THE PLACE OF REST. 343 

of labor. He endured the reproach and the 
suffering of his great undertaking. He per- 
severed through all the obligations which it 
laid upon him. The fields were white for the 
harvest which he came to gather. The souls 
of his people were waiting for the completion 
of their redemption by his death. The evening 
of his day drew nigh, and he felt straitened 
to accomplish the work which had been given 
him to do. He gave himself up in death, a 
voluntary sacrifice for the sins of our lost 
race. He died upon the cross as the ransom 
for his chosen flock. His work was finished, 
and his Church was redeemed. For the joy 
that was set before him, he endured the cross 
and despised the shame. He arose in tri- 
umph. He ascended to his glory. He sat 
down on his throne, henceforth expecting, till 
his enemies be made his footstool. He has 
entered into his rest. He is receiving his 
reward. He is seeing of the travail of 
his soul, and is satisfied. As he gathers 
his people to himself, he winnows his wheat 



344 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

from the chaff, and fills up his heavenly 
garner. Jesus is now a resting Saviour. He 
reigns in the midst of his heavenly glory, and 
celebrates his harvest-feast in the constant 
gathering of his redeemed. All his days of 
sorrow and weariness are over. He surveys 
with delight the increasing triumphs of his 
grace. Precious in his sight is the death of 
his saints. Angelic messengers bring home 
his sheaves, conduct his ransomed, sanctified 
people to their eternal glory ; and constantly 
increase the joy of his heavenly habitation. 
And in our hopeful, happy faith, we look up- 
ward to see our glorious Lord, no longer a 
man of sorrows, but the King of Saints. He 
is clothed with our form. He is in our na- 
ture, our great Kinsman and Brother. But 
he has completely purchased for himself a 
holy Church, which is to be for ever with him, 
without spot, or blemish, or wrinkle, shining 
in his own righteousness, and in his everlast- 
ing glory. And there, at the feet of a tri- 
umphant, resting Saviour, is our place of rest. 



THE PLACE OF BEST. 345 

Never, never shall we find rest until we find 
it there. To have our part in glory is to 
have our part with Christ. 

And how clearly the way to find this rest 
is here displayed ! "With perfect confidence 
in the goodness, wisdom, and fidelity of Boaz, 
Kuth carries out her mother's direction. She 
marks the place where he is reposing amidst 
the gains of his harvest. She places herself 
in simple, affectionate trust at his feet. She 
waits to hear the instructions which he will 
give her. She goes to him freely, and with- 
out fear. She hesitates not, doubts not, in 
obeying the guidance which she has received. 
And she finds, as the result, the rest she asks. 
I know not how I could give to a youthful 
inquirer a better direction than this. Mark 
where Jesus, your great Kinsman, is to be 
found. You hear of him in his Word. You 
listen there to the story of his triumphs and 
his mercies. You hear of his death for you, 
and his acceptance in your behalf before the 
Father's throne. It is with the ear of faith 
15* 



346 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

you listen, and with the eye of faith you see 
him ; with the heart of faith you are to go 
to him. It is with you no outward bodily 
journey, but the inward action of the heart 
and mind. Behold him thus a triumphant 
Saviour for you ; clothed ^Wth a vesture 
dipped in blood, as the accepted sacrifice 
for your transgressions. Go, uncover his feet, 
and lay thee down there with perfect free- 
dom. Believe and feel that he has finished 
your work, and that his rest is your rest. 
Do not fear that he will reject you. Think 
not that he wiU be displeased at the con- 
fidence with which you come, as if it were 
presumption. There is no presumption in 
reposing your sinful soul at the feet of one 
who has lived and died wholly for you. Go 
with unshrinking confidence and trust, and 
let nothing separate you from his love. Go 
to him in conscious unworthiness of his 
mercy ; with a deep sense of your own guilti- 
ness in his sight ; but with an affectionate 
dependence on his mind toward you. Doubt 



THE PLACE OF REST. 347 

notj but earnestly believe that lie really loves 
you ; that lie has truly atoned for you ; that 
he has completely redeemed you ; that he 
has freely forgiven you^ and blotted out your 
transgressions, and will no more remember 
your sins. Believe all this, because he tells 
you it all, over and over again — in every 
variety of testimony — in his Word. Go, 
give yourself up in an affectionate dedication 
to him ; and ask his gracious and unfailing 
protection and defense as your Kinsman and 
Redeemer ; and allow no single doubt to 
rise that he will receive you. This is the 
work of his Spirit in your own secret heart. 
It is all within you. It is a transaction 
between yourself and Jesus. It is for you 
to do it. Others can only aid by counsel 
and guidance. The Holy Spirit must lead 
you alone, in the silent, secret action of your 
own heart, when the world may be all asleep 
around you, and no earthly companion may 
know the experience or purpose of your mind 
within. Thus go to the feet of Jesus and 



348 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

lay you down with perfect confidence, and 
with a fixed determination there to abide 
for ever. And there is the place of rest. 
And thus, in the simple trusting of a 
believing heart, the sinner finds the rest he 
seeks. 

" I '11 go to Jesus, though my sin 
Hath like a mountain rose ; 
I know his courts, I "11 enter in, 
"Whatever may oppose. 

" Prostrate I '11 lie before his throne, 
And there my guilt confess ; 
I '11 tell him I 'm a wretch undone. 
Without his sovereign grace." 

The plea of Euth to Boaz is a perfect 
illustration of the plea with which you must 
come to the great Saviour of your soul. Slie 
tells him her name. "I am Ruth." She 
acknowledges her lowliness and poverty. She 
reminds him of his peculiar relation to her. 
" Thou art a near Idnsman." She pleads with 
him humbly, but affectionately, for his pro- 
tection and defence. " Spread therefore thy 
skirt over thine handmaid." It is the lan- 
guage of deep humility, but of entire con- 



THE PLACE OF EEST. 349 

fidence. " I know in wlioni I have believed, 
and I am persuaded that he will keep that 
which I have committed unto him." With 
just such a plea may you go to the feet 
of your great Kedeemer, and with the same 
success. Does he ask you, " Who art thou ?" 
Tell him your sinful state and character. 
Acknowledge before him your poverty and 
your rebellion ; your corrupt and fallen 
nature, and your thoughtless, wasteful, and 
disobedient life. Be not afraid to confess 
your sins before him freely and without 
reserve. He came to seek and to save that 
which is lost. He knows how completely 
lost you are, and he would have you feel 
it and know it too. Your plea is not your 
penitence, but your guilt ; not your return, 
but your ruin. "I am Kuth," not an 
Israelite, but a child of Moab. I have no- 
thing. I have done nothing that is good. 
I can do nothing. I am utterly oppressed. 
Lord undertake for me. Thou seest that I 
put not my trust in any thing that I do. 



350 THE lUClI KINSMAN. 

This is the lowly, self-renouncing plea of con- 
scious poverty. Say not more than you feel. 
But strive to feel all that you ought to say. 

Plead with Jesus his own relation to you. 
He is a near kinsman, the qualified and 
appointed goel for your sinful soul. He has 
the right and the power to redeem you. 
And he has given you the right to plead 
with him for the exercise of this power. You 
may go and claim from him the offered mani- 
festation of his own grace, and the fulfillment 
of his own promises. You may remind him 
of his own assumption of your nature, and 
his dying in the very likeness, and under 
the sorrows, of your sinful flesh, that he 
might redeem and purchase you as a living 
sacrifice for himself. What a beautiful illus- 
tration of such a plea our Litany gives us ! 
We plead with him there to deliver us by 
the power and worth of his own incarnation, 
his agony and bloody sweat, his precious 
death, liis glorious resurrection. We remind 
him of these as the evidences of his kinsman- 



THE PLACE OF BEST. 351 

relation to us, of his experience of onr need ; 
and we beg him to apply their worth and 
influence for our deliverance. You may- 
plead with him his mighty power. He is 
God over all, able to save unto the uttermost 
all who come unto him. His perfect right- 
eousness has been accepted for you. His 
triumphant power is held for you. He is 
mighty to save. None who come unto him 
can be cast out. He has given you this right 
to come, and no one will be permitted to 
take it from you. You may plead with him 
his true and unchangeable Word, his precious 
promises, upon the certainty of which he has 
caused you to hope, and in the security of 
which you place your trust. Can he refuse to 
hear, or to fulfill the word that he has spoken ? 

" Lord, if my soul was then beloved, 
O love me always to the end ; 
Let not thy favor be removed, 
Eemain my everlasting friend. 

" I know the Saviour died for me, 

For me, that Holy Lamb was slain ; 
In him I claim my part with thee, 
His precious death can not be vain." 



352 THE RICH KINSMAN. ♦ 

Thus, with complete self-renunciation, but 
with entire faith in your Kinsman's sympathy 
and power, and with a sure confidence in the 
success of your plea, and the accomplishment 
of his Word, you may come to Jesus, and 
build your lowly taberaacle at his feet, re- 
solved to live and to die with him. Like 
Ruth, your petition is, *' Spread thy skirt 
over thy handmaid, for thou art a near kins- 
man." Cover me with thy perfect right- 
eousness, that I may be justified in thee. 
Overshadow me with thy divine protection, 
that I may be guarded by thee. Acknowl- 
edge me as thine, that I may rejoice in my 
everlasting union with thee. Be thou for 
me in judgment, to plead my cause, and 
answer the accusations against me ; in advo- 
cacy, to intercede in my behalf; in recom- 
pense, to be my everlasting portion and my 
soul's salvation. My dear young friends, make 
this your only, constant plea, as you come to 
a Saviour's feet. Think with grateful love 
of the value of his work for you, and the 



• THE PLACE OF REST. 353 

perfect sufficiency of his grace in your behalf. 
Let nothing interpose to keep you separate 
from him, or to awaken an unbelieving dis- 
trust of his mind toward you. Never stop to 
ask whether you have a right to go to him. 
But go in the right which he has himself 
bestowed upon your sinful race. He calls the 
lostj and you are lost. He saves the guilty, 
and you are guilty. He heals the sick, and 
you are sick. He consoles the wretched, and 
you are wretched. He receiveth sinners, and 
you are sinners. Go to him, then, as if 
he called you by your own names, and say, 
" Here am I, for thou callest me !" " I am 
Kuth." I am lost, poor, wretched, sinful. 
But thou art my near kinsman. Thou hast 
been made sin for me, that I might be made 
the righteousness of God in thee. Spread 
thy skirt over me ; and hide me, my 
Saviour hide, till the storm of life be past. 

This is your place of Best. And it is rest 
for ever. How many myriads of the lost have 
proved it so ! What multitudes in glory live 



354 THE RICH KINSMAN. • 

to witness that the Lord Jesus freely receives, 
fully forgives, and everlastingly saves, all who 
come to him. None who trust in him can be 
forsaken. A youthful Christian, in the last 
hours of her pilgrimage, thus expressed, in 
lines of singular beauty, the triumphant con- 
fidence of her ransomed soul : 



*'Shed not a tear for me, 
O, weep not that I die ; 
I am -where I would be, 
In perfect peace I lie. 
A Eefuge I have found through grace, 
And Jesus is my Kesting-place, 

" The storms of life are o'er, 
The conflict soon shall cease, 
Doubts interpose no more, 
Now I have perfect peace. 
This Refuge I have found through grace. 
And Jesus is ray Eesting-plaoe. 

' ' His precious blood was shed 
Sin's deadly wound to heal; 
To that full fountain led, 
This perfect peace I feel. 
Its Refuge I have found through grace, 
An d Jesus is my Resting-place. 

" Naught else have I to plead, 
No other claim to show ; 



I 



• THE PLACE OF REST. 355 

In Christ is all I need, 
His perfect peace I know. 
That Eefuge I have found through grace, 
And Jesus is my Ees ting-place. 

" No painful doubts annoy ; 
Jesus is ever nigh ; 
No fears disturb my joy, 
In perfect peace I die. 
This Eefuge I have found through grace. 
And Jesus is my Eesting-place, 

*' Shed not a tear for me, 

"Weep not that I am gone, 
I am where I would be, 
Before my Father's throne. 
That Eefuge I have found through grace, 
Jesus is still my Eesting-place. 

This was tlie spirit and the choice of Kuth. 
This may be, ought to be yours. She found 
her place of rest at her kinsman's feet. Yours 
is also there. In simple, happy faith she 
trusted in her Saviour's power. " Trust ye in 
the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah is 
everlasting strength." 



XYI. 

%\t |irst-|ruits Qf dDxntt, 

And he said, Blessed be thou of the Lord, my daughter; for thoa hast 
showed more kindness at the latter end than in the beginning; 
inasmuch as thou foUowedst not young men whether poor or rich. 
And now my daughter, fear not; I will do to thee all that thou re- 
quirest; for all the city of my people doth know that thou art a vir- 
tuous woman. And now it is true that I am thy near kinsman ; how- 
beit there is a kinsman nearer than I. Tarry this night and it shall 
be in the morning, that if he will perform unto thee the part of a 
kinsman, well; let him do the kinsman's part; but if he will not do 
the part of a kinsman to thee, then will I do the part of a kinsman to 
thee, as the Lord liveth: lie down until the morning. And she lay 
at his feet until the morning; and she rose up before one could know 
another. And he said. Let it not be known that a woman came Into 
the floor. Also he said, Bring the rail that thou hast upoa thee, and 
hold it, .And when she held it he measured six measures of barley, 
and laid it on her, and she went into the city. And when she came 
to her mother-in-law she said, "Who art thou, my daughter? And sho 
told her all that the man had done to her. And she said, these sis 
measures of barley gave he me ; for he said to me. Go not empty 
unto thy mother-in-law. Then said she, Sit still my daughter, until 
thou know how the matter will fall; for the man will not be 'n rest 
until he have finished the thing this day.— Eutu iii 10-18. 

All the circumstances of this history are so 
illustrative of the mutual relations between 
the Christian and his Saviour, that I hardly 



THE FIEST-FKUITS OT GKACE. 357 

know how to pass so lightly over them. Yet 
our reasonable space does not permit me to 
be more minute. When we think of the Sa- 
viour's feet as our place of rest, the view will 
not be confined to the first coming of the 
awakened sinner thither. The Christian 
loves to go there, and to be there to the end. 
He would every day follow the example of 
Euth, and seek for the divine anointing and 
washing of the Holy Spirit, that he may go 
and prove the condescending kindness of his 
Lord. He would constantly beg of him to 
spread over him the skirt of his righteousness, 
and the garment of his salvation ; and be- 
troth him unto himself for ever, in faithful- 
ness and loving-kindness, that he may know 
him to be his Lord. But the particular view 
which I have taken of this history here has 
led me to confine my illustrations to the first 
coming of a new-born soul to the Saviour's 
feet, and the first gracious acceptance of such 
a soul in the freeness and fullness of his love. 
And with this selected and limited view I 



858 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

must of necessity proceed. The passage be- 
fore us gives a copious illustration of the first- 
fruits of grace to the accepted soul. Jesus 
welcomes, blesses, and abundantly rewards all 
who thus come unto him. 

First we have divine approval. Boaz does 
not reject or repel the lowly suitor at his feet. 
The difference in their outward conditions 
was great. He was the rich master of the 
field, and she the poor, beggared wanderer, 
who had been gleaning from his bounty. Yet 
he neither chides her boldness, nor reproaches 
her with her sorrow, nor refuses her plea. He 
listens to her prayer in kindness. He invokes 
the divine blessing upon her in her need. He 
is grateful for the confidence in him which 
she has displayed. He acknowledges the un- 
spotted excellence of her character, and the 
purity of her reputation and motives. His 
whole reception of her is encouraging and 
affectionate, and another illustration of that 
pure and elevated dignity which can conde- 
scend without meanness, and can maintain 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF GRACE. 359 

its own stand of exalted delicacy without an 
effort, and while it seems to have forgotten 
and disregarded it. And how his whole ad- 
dress to her illustrates the Saviour's gracious 
approval of those who seek him ! When the 
wearied soul comes to the feet of Jesus, this 
is ever the welcome of approbation which it 
receives. The Saviour takes immediate notice 
of the prayer which rises up before him, and 
answers it with the kindest encouragement. 
Mothers pressed their babes upon him for a 
blessing, and his disciples forbade their ap- 
parent presumption. But Jesus said, " Suf- 
fer them to come unto me, and forbid them 
not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.'' 
Poor sufferers followed him in the crowd, and 
cried after him for mercy. Disciples were 
annoyed at the interruption, and said, " Send 
them away." But Jesus turned to them with 
kindness, and heard their prayers, and dis- 
tributed the blessings which they severally 
needed. This is his course with all who really 
seek him. No application is wearisome to 



360 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

him. And no sincere and humble application 
can be offensive. He meets you with divine 
approval. You may bring your burden to his 
feet, and with entire confidence cast yourself 
upon his bounty and love. And he will wel- 
come you with a gracious smile. His own 
Spirit will minister this approval to your 
heart. You will find him giving a secret 
peace. Your soul will have comfort and rest. 
The choice you have made will seem to you a 
happy choice. The position you have as- 
sumed will be found a place of defence and 
tranquillity. How different become your feel- 
ings toward a Saviour, and your views of his 
character ! How confidently you can now trust 
in him, and feel sure that he loves you and 
blesses you ! You feared to come in your 
poverty, and with the vileness of your sin. 
You doubted his readiness to receive you, 
and whether he would not repel you, and 
drive you back. You feared he would ask 
something which you could not give ; and 
would disregard your plea of absolute need 



THE FIEST-FRUITS OF GRACE. 361 

and deep distress. But how your fears mis- 
represented his gracious mind ! You can now 
look up to him, and say, " Thou knowest that 
I love thee ;'' and with equal assurance, " I 
know the love thou hast toward me." This 
divine approval, ministered to you by the 
Holy Spirit, renews your strength, fills you 
with joy, prepares you for duty, enables you 
to delight in his commands, and sends you 
forth with a cheerful spirit to do his will. 
You are freely pardoned ; you are graciously 
accepted ; your cares and fears have been re- 
moved ; the Saviour loves you and has heard 
your prayer ; and now, you have nothing to 
do but to go out and obey him, and serve 
him with a cheerful heart, and with newness 
and freeness of spirit, all your days. What 
an entire change of mind does this divine ap- 
proval work ! It makes our whole couTse 
happy and free. The service of our master 
becomes our delight. " All the work we do 
below is light for such a Lord." Martha's 
mind, cumbered with much serving, and care- 
16 



362 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

ful and troubled about many things, gives 
place to Mary's free and tranquil mind which 
delights to sit at a Saviour's feet, and hear 
his words, and do his will, and look forward, 
rejoicing, to his glory. 

Boaz next illustrates for us the Divine 
Promises. He meets the full requisition of 
his suppliant. He assures her that all her 
rights shall be acknowledged, her claims shall 
be respected, and the full duties of her goel, 
her appointed kinsman, shall be performed. 
He bids her to exercise perfect faith in his 
word. " As the Lord liveth,'" he says, " I will 
do it ; lie down until the morning.'' What 
full assurance docs he encourage her to have 
in his promise ! And with what satisfied 
reliance does she receive his promise, and re- 
pose upon it ! Here is another of the first- 
fruits of grace, and one of inestimable worth. 
We have the exceeding great and precious 
promises which the Saviour gives to his chosen 
people, and the faith with which he enables 
them to rest upon them. St. Peter says. 



THE FIRST-FKUITS OF GRACE. 363 

" His divine power hath given unto us all 
things that pertain to life and godliness, 
through the knowledge of him ; whereby are 
given unto us exceeding great and precious 
promises, that by these ye might be partakers 
of the divine nature." These precious promises 
which the divine power of our great Kinsman 
so freely gives us, cover all the necessities of 
our being and all our possible happiness, for 
time and for eternity. There is not a want 
which the Christian feels, for which there is 
not a provision promised in the word of Grod. 
And when we come to ask his mercy, and 
lay ourselves at his feet in humble dedication 
to him, the Saviour takes all our concerns 
into his own hands, and himself promises to 
provide for every need. To strengthen our 
faith in his word, he confirms it with an 
oath, that we might have a strong consola- 
tion, who have fied for refuge, to lay hold of 
the hope which he has set before us. Like 
Boaz, he says, '^ I will surely do the part of a 
kinsman for you.'' I will ransom you com- 



364 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

pletely. I will restore all that you have 
lost. I will make full satisfaction for your 
faults. I will adopt you for my own. I 
will unite you unto myself. I will justify 
and enrich you with my own righteousness 
and power. I will renew your nature, and 
prepare you for an inheritance of glory. I 
will restore that inheritance to you, and you 
shall be mine for ever. These are precious 
promises indeed. You may make a catalogue 
of human wants, and then you may go 
through the Scripture and place opposite to 
each some special promise particularly de- 
signed for its relief. And all these are now 
given to every child of God. They are the 
present p^-operty of the pardoned sinner. He 
goes on his way, not uncertainly, or in fear, 
but under the bountiful and supreme guid- 
ance and protection, of one who has assumed 
the whole care of him, and is able to enrich 
him with everlasting wealth. My dear young 
fiiends, you may always consider these prom- 
ises as your own. They are meant for you. 



THE FIEST-FRUITS OF GRACE. 365 

Whenever you come to any particular trial or 
crisis of your life, see what is the promise which 
is laid up for you. Believe it. Expect its 
fulfillment. Do not doubt that your Blessed 
Lord will certainly fulfill it to you. "He 
that believe th, shall not make haste ;" " shall 
not be confounded ;" " shall not be ashamed." 
Lie at the feet of your gracious Kinsman 
until the morning. Through the whole night 
of this dark and sinful world, repose upon his 
word with a perfect trust. Be sure that the 
heavens and the earth must pass away sooner 
than his gracious word can fail. This living, 
peaceful faith, he will certainly bestow. He 
will enable you to be the praise of his glory, 
by making you to trust in him. This makes 
a life of rest, and peace, and joyful hope. 
And as we think of his promises, and medi- 
tate upon his word in our night-watches, we 
feel that these precious promises are tadeed 
an inestimable gift of grace. But they are a 
free gift, a gift of grace. They do not de- 
pend upon our character, but upon the truth 



366 THE RICH KiySMAX. 

of his word. Our reason for trusting them, 
and expecting their fulfillment, is not our 
own excellence or improvement, but the cer- 
tainty and faithfulness of the Saviour's word. 
Do not fall into the snare of thinking the 
promises are not for you. Take them as 
blanks which the Lord hath given you. 
Write your own name in them. FiU them 
up with the supply you need. And then 
carry them to his own feet, and say, " Lord, 
this is the word in which thou hast caused 
me to trust. Let thy word be fulfilled to thy 
servant. Be it unto me according to thy 
word.'** And never shaU you find the promise 
fail, or your faith in the promise to be in 
vain. With these inestimable treasures qf 
divine approval, and divine promises, yon 
shall go on your way, enriched and full, 
and rejoicing in the loving-kindness of the 
Lord. 

Another of the first-fi^ts of grace which 
we find in this illustration is the bounty of 
divine gifts. Boaz not only promises for the 



THE FIRST-FEUITS OF GRACE. 367 

future, but lie bestows in the present. He 
will not send Kuth away empty. He fills her 
vail with as much barley as she could carry 
to her mother. An abundant supply for 
the "wants of both. He is as generous in the 
amount of his liberality as he is delicate and 
free in the manner of its bestowal. Every 
new exhibition of his mind and feeling in- 
creases the admiration which his whole char- 
acter has produced. Thus the Saviour richly 
and freely bestows his gifts of grace upon 
those who love him. What sweet peace he 
pours into the conscience in the assurance 
of our forgiveness ! What clear light he 
gives to the understanding of his whole 
method of salvation and scheme of truth ! 
What solidity he bestows upon the judgment, 
in its satisfaction with his plans revealed ! 
What joy he awakens in the heart, in the 
hope and anticipation of his final glory ! 
What firm trust he imparts in the certainty 
of his Word of promise ! What strength 
he furnishes for actual contest, and boldness 



THE RICH KINSMAN. 

in the day of battle ! What contentment 
and quietness he gives under the visitations 
of distress ! How he makes our whole path 
a path of increasing light and abounding 
peace ! These are his constant ministrations, 
his daily gifts to those who truly believe in 
him. He saves us now. The salvation which 
he bestows is not a mere future possible 
blessing. It is an actual present possession 
and gift. In the enjoyment of it we rejoice, 
as partakers of a heavenly calling and a 
heavenly treasure. This makes our religious 
life a happy life. We find the service of God 
to be perfect freedom. It becomes our de- 
light to do his will, and his law is written 
in our hearts. 

These divine gifts are by no means equally 
enjoyed by all who truly believe. I wiU not 
say even that they can be. We must remem- 
ber and acknowledge the absolute sovereign 
right of God to besto^w the gifts of his grace 
according to his own good pleasure. We 
have no rights in the case. What he gives 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF GRACE. 369 

he gives freely. And no one may say to Mm, 
" What doest thou ?'' But this we may say, 
and must say, that all our religious enjoyments 
will be in proportion to the reality and sim- 
plicity of our faith. The Saviour still habit- 
ually says, " According to your faith be it 
unto you." If we wait upon him we renew 
our strength. In him we are never strait- 
ened. The more diligently and truly we 
wait upon him, the more abundantly will 
our strength be renewed. He will freely say 
to us, like Boaz to Kuth, " Bring the vail 
that thou hast upon thee, and hold it." 
Whatever we are ready to receive he is wait- 
ing to bestow. The vail of Euth is our own 
simple filial faith in the promises and power of 
God. With such a faith, we go from our com- 
munion with him, laden with his bounties. 

But the illustration from the vail of Kuth 
fails, in the important fact, that its meas- 
ure was fixed, but our capacity to hold 
increases with our receipts of the divine 
bounty. And who shall tell where God's 
16* 



870 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

gracious willingness to bestow shall find 
its limit. As faith enlarges, and we learn 
to expect large things, and to attempt 
large things, so also becomes enlarged the 
measure of grace which faith receives. 
Every divine gift is thus increasing in our 
possession as we are faithful in their use. 
The Saviour gives remarkable promises to 
our faith. It can remove mountains of dif- 
ficulty. All things are possible to him that 
believeth. And, however we may limit such 
expressions in our interpretation, we can not 
refuse to recognize the great principle of the 
divine promise, that a rich abundance of 
grace is always ready to be bestowed upon 
the exercise of our simple faith in God our 
Saviour. We may grow in grace even to 
the end. We may enter into the city of our 
final glory at last with triumph, '' having 
all things ours," because we are Christ's. 
We may go home to Zion with songs and 
everlasting joy upon our heads ; and be 
gathered in our full age, whether we be 



THE FIKST-FRUITS OF GRACE. 371 

young or old, " like as a shock of corn cometK 
in in his season." 

D try to have it so. Be covetous of divine 
gifts in this more excellent way. Stretch out 
the vail of your faith and your desires yet 
more and more, that you may receive from 
the Saviour's fullness grace upon grace, and 
come behind in no gift. Happy will be your 
offerings of praise at last for all these boun- 
ties. With what delight Kuth recounted to 
her mother the rich bounty of Boaz ! And 
with what mutual pleasure they dwelt to- 
gether upon his increasing kindness to them ! 
Thus will your happy soul be employed. 
" Eternity too short to utter all his praise." 
And in the ages to come, with the multitude 
of his redeemed, will you adore his goodness, 
which had compassion on you when you were 
dead in your sins, which enriched you with 
every blessing of his kingdom, and has 
crowned you at the last in everlasting glory. 

The history before us illustrates the divine 
fidelity. With what confidence Naomi trusts 



372 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

in the truth and faithfulness of Boaz ! 
" Sit still, my daughter, until thou know 
how the matter will fall ; for the man will 
not be in rest until he have finished the 
thing this day." The result proved that her 
confidence was not misplaced. He did com- 
plete with entire success the work of protec- 
tion and mercy which he had undertaken. 
It is upon such entire fidelity in our gracious 
Kinsman that we are required to place our 
trust. ^' Great is his faithfulness." " His 
name is called Faithful and True." St. 
Paul tells the Philippians that this was the 
very thing in which he had perfect confidence 
— that he which had begun a good work in 
them would perform it until the day of Jesus 
Christ. He tells us even further, that it is 
meet, or just and right to think so. We 
ought to have this confidence in the faith- 
fulness of a divine Saviour. He is eminently 
worthy of it. It is upon this that he com- 
mands and causes us to trust. He has 
undertaken to bring his people to eternal 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF GRACE. 373 

glory ; to lead the sons of God to their 
everlasting home in the presence of their 
Father. Whom he calls, he justifies ; and 
whom he justifies, he glorifies. " He will not 
be in rest until he have finished this thing." 
Jesus is as desirous of our salvation as we 
can ever be. Do I say as desirous ? He is 
far more anxious for it than we can conceive. 
How he bears with us, and contends with us, 
and pities us in our individual character, 
after all that he has done and suffered for us 
in his own flesh on the earth ! Through 
what trials and sorrows he goes, enduring the 
contradiction of sinners against himself, in 
bringing home his children unto eternal life ! 
When you read the seventeenth chapter of 
St. John, you see the deep concern of his own 
spirit for the salvation of his flock. He 
prays that they may be kept ; that none of 
them may be lost ; that they may all be 
permitted to see his glory. Thus he ever 
liveth to make intercession for them. He 
promises them that they shall never perish, 



374 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

and no one shall pluck tkem out of his hand. 
This faithfulness of Jesus refers to his whole 
ransomed family, and personally to every 
individual in it. It is the great source of our 
comfort and of our hope. He who has laid 
the foundation will also bring forth the top- 
stone, with shoutings of Grace, Grace unto it. 
In this fidelity of Christ we are ever to con- 
fide. Our simple faith is to be still, and 
know that he is God. Like the Israelites at 
the Red Sea, we have the two commands 
given to us, " Stand still, and see the salva- 
tion of God," and ** Speak unto the children 
of Israel, that they go forward." It is a faith 
which supports us in duty, but does not min- 
ister to our indolence. It keeps us still from 
complainings and fears. But it does not keep 
us still from efi'ort and obedience. It leads 
us to look forward with hope, and, however 
weak or opposed we may be, to have no doubt 
that he who has undertaken our salvation 
win assuredly complete it. He will keep us 
unto life eternal While we thus confide in 



THE FIRST-FRUITS OF GRACE. 375 

liis faithfulness^ we are able to serve him with- 
out fear, in holiness and righteousness before 
him, all the days of our life. It is this faith 
which gives us strength in the day of battle, 
and makes us more than conquerors over 
every enemy. With this faith was Daniel 
cast into the den of lions, " and no manner 
of hurt was found upon him, because he be- 
lieved in his God." With this /faith Daniel's 
companions said to the king of Babylon, 
"We are not careful to answer thee in this 
matter ; our God, whom we serve, is able to 
deliver us from the burning, fiery furnace, 
and he will deliver us out of thine hand." 
And over their bodies the fire had no power, 
nor was an hair of their heads singed. This 
is the divine fidelity. We go forward in every 
appointed path of duty relying upon it. No 
opposition deters us. No difficulties discour- 
age us. No darkness alarms us. No disap- 
pointments depress us. No delay wearies us. 
We believe in the faithful Word of our gra- 
cious Saviour, and are at rest. We do not 



376 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

know how he will do this thing. He may- 
have many plans wliich are concealed from 
us. He may have many obstacles that we 
know not. It may require a much longer 
time, and a much more circuitous way than 
we at first suppose. But all this we leave 
entirely to him. Our simple determination is 
to abide by him, to cling to his promise, to 
do his will, to hope unto the end, not to be 
weary in well-doing, and to leave the whole 
planning and direction of the work which he 
has undertaken, entirely to himself. We will 
sit still in our appointed sphere of duty, until 
we know how the matter will fall. We have 
no cares or wishes about that. To do is ours, 
to direct is his. ^' The work to be performed 
is ours, the strength is all his own." Such a 
mind as this is perfect peace. It is aU joy 
and peace in believing. It is without careful- 
ness. It is careful for nothing. It is kept in 
the peace of God, which passeth understand- 
ing. Try to gain and exercise this constant 
faith in your great Redeemer. Look up with 



THE FIEST-FRUITS OF GRACE. 377 

confidence in his divine fidelity. Banisli your 
doubts of his kindness and love toward you. 
And while you are diligent and fervent in 
spirit in his service, learn to leave all your 
cares and all your wants in his gracious 
handSj sure that he will never rest until he 
has finished the great and glorious work he 
has begun for you. 



L. 



XVII. 

Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there : and behold, 
the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by ; unto whom he said, IIo, 
8uch-a-one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat 
down. And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit 
ye down here. And they sat down. And he said unto the kinsman, 
Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, sellcth a parcel 
of land, which was our brother Elimelech's : and I thought to ad- 
vertise thee, saying. Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the 
elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it : but If 
thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know : for there is 
none to redeem it besides thee ; and I am after thee. And he said, I 
will redeem it Then said Boar, "What day thou buyest the field of 
the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Kuth the Moabitess, the 
wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inherit- 
ance. And the kinsman said, I can not redeem it for myself, lest I 
mar mine own Inheritance : redeem thou my right to thyself; for I 
can not redeem it Now this was the manner in former time in 
Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm 
all things; a man plucked off hie shoe, and gave it to his neighbor: 
and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said unto 
Boaz, Buy it for thee. So he drew off his shoe. — Ruth, iv. 1-8. 

This is an episode in the history. The 
personal account of Ruth is left for a mo- 
ment, to bring up the history of this great 
affair of her life, to the point where she was 



KEDEMPTION PROPOSED. 379 

to appear in it again. Our improvement of it 
will take us away, for a little while, from the 
immediate track which we have thus far fol- 
lowed, to consider in itself that redemption, 
the fruits of which we ourselves enjoy. I 
may call the present subject Kedemption Pro- 
posed. It is a simple history of such a propo- 
sition, whether made by Boaz, as goel for 
Ruth, or made by the Lord Jesus Christ, as 
goel for us. The Law appointed the type of 
the goel. The history of Ruth gives an in- 
stance of a single observance of this appoint- 
ment in Israel. Both united lead us to that 
which both were intended to illustrate and 
teach, the actual, eternal redemption of a pe- 
culiar people from among the lost race of 
Adam, by the incarnation, and death, and 
subsequent triumphs, of the only begotten Son 
of Grod, in their own nature and for them. 

I may describe Redemption to you, under 
the terms which teachers in Theology use, as 
Proper or Improper. Proper Redemption 
is the legal purchase of the captive to be re- 



380 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

deemed, by the payment of the stipulated 
price. It gives the redeemer the full right to 
the captive whom he has thus purchased. 
But the captive, though thus redeemed, may 
be unlawfully held in bondage still. Im- 
proper redemption, or a redemption which 
ought not to have been required, is the rescue 
of the captive by force from unla^N-ful bond- 
age by the redeemer who has already pur- 
chased him. In both of these views does the 
Son of God become our Redeemer. He 
ransomed us not with corruptible things, as 
silver and gold, but Ts-ith his own precious 
blood, as a Lamb without blemish and with- 
out spot. We are bought with a price. But 
because we are still held in captivity by the 
enemy, he comes with the mighty power of 
his Spirit and plucks the prey out of the jaws 
of the oppressor. He is thus, in both senses, 
mighty to save — able to save unto the utter- 
most. He spoils principalities and powers, 
and lets the oppressed go free. 

If we carry our minds back to the time 



I 



EEDEMPTION PROPOSED. 381 

when our redemption was future, and there 
see what our Kedeemer must be and do, in 
order to save and rescue us, the history before 
us will become a beautiful illustration. The 
Eedeemer must be our kinsman. He must 
partake of our nature. Because the children 
whom he was to save were partakers of flesh 
and blood, he must also himself likewise 
take part of the same, that he might have 
the right to redeem. The nature that sinned 
must be the nature to suffer and to triumph. 
And, therefore, the Kedeemer must be made 
flesh like us. He must be a mighty kins- 
man — able to bear the load of our guilt, to 
atone for our transgressions, to complete a 
perfect and spotless obedience for us ; and 
to rescue us from the bondage in which we 
were held, sold under sin, and condemned to 
death. No other than an Almighty Saviour 
could meet the wants of our lost race. He 
must be a rich and perfectly competent kins- 
man. He must first triumph himself in the 
contest which he should undertake. And 



382 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

then, being justified, and crowned, and ex- 
alted as a Prince and a Saviour, he could be 
able to bestow his gifts upon the captive 
rebels for whom he came. He could give 
them repentance and forgiveness of sins. He 
must be a tender and loving kinsman ; one 
who could be touched with the feeling of the 
infirmities of his people ; and be afflicted in 
their afflictions ; and sympathize in all their 
temptations and dangers. He must be in all 
things made like unto his brethren, that he 
might be a merciful and fiiithful kinsman for 
them, in things pertaining to God, and make 
reconciliation for the sins of his people. This 
was what the Redeemer must be, to become 
a goel for us. Such a goel became us — holy, 
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, 
higher than the heavens — able to raise up for 
us an everlasting salvation. 

When he should appear as our Redeemer, 
and the first-begotten should be brought into 
the world to save us, he must ransom our per- 
sons from condemnation, and from our bondage 



KEDEMPTION PROPOSED. 383 

in death, under the curse of the holy law of 
God. He must make a full atonement, and 
offer a perfect and sufficient sacrifice for our 
sins, that he might magnify this holy law, 
and make it honorable. He must be made 
under its authority and fulfill its perfect 
righteousness, that he might redeem us 
from its sentence and give us a title to its 
reward. By his righteousness thus offered, 
he must enable God to be just and yet the 
justifier of all who believe in him. He must 
thus buy back our inheritance which had 
been lost by our sin, through the worth 
of his own obedience. He must become 
possessed of that eternal life, which we had 
lost, and be able to bestow it again upon his 
impoverished kin, as the free gift of his own 
grace. He must actually give it back to them, 
as his own free gift, and reinstate them in an 
inheritance which should never more be lost. 
He must apply to each of them, by his own 
power, for their individual enjoyment and 
possession, this great and wonderful redemp- 



384 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

tion which he had accomplished in their na- 
ture ; and thus not only give them a title to 
eternal life in his own obedience, but make 
them actually, in their obedience to him, par- 
takers of this life, and meet to be partakers 
of the inheritance of saints, of holy ones, in 
light ; partakers of a divine nature, and heirs 
of divine glory. 

This is what our goel must be and do. 
And this is what the Son of God proposed to 
be and do for us. When sacrifice and bumt- 
offerings could be of no value, this great Sa- 
viour said, ^'Lo, I come to do thy will, 
God. A body hast thou prepared me." And 
this proposal of our Kinsman, Boaz illus- 
trated in the portion of the history before us. 
Boaz went up publicly to the gate, the chief 
place of concourse, the appointed place for 
conference, where men spake with each other 
in the settlement of their controversies and 
questions of business. And there, in the 
presence of the elders of the city, he made his 
proposition to redeem the familv of Elime- 



REDEMPTION PROPOSED. 385 

lech. His offer of redemption was perfectly 
legal in all its points^ according to the com- 
mand and will of God. It was a most com- 
prehensive offer. It embraced the whole con- 
dition of Kuth and Naomi. He proposed to 
" buy back all that was Elimelech's, and all 
that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, and Kuth 
the Moabitess to be his wife, to raise up the 
name of the dead upon his inheritance." But 
there was another kinsman, in nearer relation 
to this family than himself, who had the first 
right to accomplish this redemption, if he 
were willing and able. And Boaz makes the 
proposal first to him to whom of right it first 
belonged. "And he said unto the kinsman, 
Naomi, that is come again out of the country 
of Moab, selleth a parcel of land which was 
our brother Elimelech's. And I thought to 
advertise thee, saying. Buy it before the in- 
habitants, and before the elders of my people. 
If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it : but if thou 
wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may 
know : for there is none to redeem it besides 
17 



386 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

thee ; and I am after thee. And he said, I 
will redeem it. Then said Boaz, "Wliat day 
thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, 
thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, 
the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of 
the dead upon his inheritance. And the 
kinsman said, I can not redeem it for myself, 
lest I mar mine own inheritance : redeem thou 
my right to thyself ; for I can not redeem it. 
Now this was the manner in former time in 
Israel concerning redeeming and concern- 
ing changing, for to confirm all things ; a 
man plucked ofi" his shoe, and gave it to his 
neighbor : and this was a testimony in Is- 
rael." The proposal was made to him in 
vain. He could not assume the obligation. 
It would " mar his own inheritance," and he 
openly refused the offer. And, according to 
the custom of Israel, he drew off his shoe, and 
handed it to Boaz, as a token that he wished 
him to stand in his place, and take upon him- 
self the obligations which he could not 
fulfill. 



EEDEMPTION PROPOSED. 387 

How completely this proposal illustrates 
tlie proposition of our great Kedeemer in our 
behalf. Thus publicly he agreed, in the 
presence of the angels of God, to make him- 
self an offering for sin. Thus legally would 
he fulfill all righteousness for man, and be 
made under the law, that he might redeem 
those who wer^Under the law from the bond- 
age of its condemnation. Thus perfectly and 
completely would he buy back all that man 
had lost, and unite unto himself the nature 
which had sinned and fallen ; and betroth his 
redeemed to himself in an everlasting cov- 
enant, to raise up the name of the race which 
was lost and dead in sin, once more upon their 
inheritance. All this was to be done. And 
all this the Son of God would do. 

But angels were a created nature, far 
nearer in relation to man. Might not the 
proposition be made to them .^ Would they 
not redeem the lost ? Ah, willing they might 
]3e — we doubt not they were. But able they 
could never be. The redemption of a soul 



388 THE RICH KIXSMAN. 

tliey must let alone for ever. Could they 
stand in the sinner's place ? Could they 
boldly take his shoe, and meet all his respons- 
ibilities ? Could they ever offer a free and 
meritorious obedience for others ? Was not 
all that they could do an actual obligation 
upon them now ? Could they suffer and die 
as an infinitely valuable sacrifice for sin ? 
Could a creature bear an infinite load, or ac- 
complish a work which required almighty 
power ? Could they come forth, and by their 
own might die, and rise, and reign in man's 
stead, and for man's salvation ? No ! Le- 
gions of angels were incompetent for a work 
like this. They must shrink from undertak- 
ing it. They would ^'mar their own inher- 
itance." They would destroy themselves in 
accomplishing no benefit for others. The 
being who was to be brought into this world 
of sin as man's redeemer, was one whom all 
the angels of God worshipped, and to whom 
angels, authorities, and powers were made 
subject. They were ministering spirits, sent 



EEDEMPTION PROPOSED. 389 

forth to minister to the heirs of salvation. 
But to none of them had God said at any- 
time, " Thou art my Son, this day have I be- 
gotten thee f or " Thy throne, Grod, is for 
ever and ever ; the scepter of thy kingdom is 
a right scepter." They must all refuse a work 
so unexperienced, so incomprehensible to 
them as the redemption of lost and guilty 
man. They may desire to look into it, and 
to understand it. But they could never un- 
dertake or accomplish it. 

The Son of God remained alone. His own 
arm must bring salvation. His righteousness 
must sustain him. He must tread the wine- 
press alone, and travel in the greatness of his 
own strength to bring forth the people whom 
he would redeem. Of all created beings there 
could be none with him to help him in this 
work, this strange work. Then, when there 
was no intercessor, and no arm to bring sal- 
vation, he said, " Lo, I come." He was con- 
tent to do the will of God, and his law was in 
his heart. Here was to be complete redemp- 



390 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

tion. He would take the shoe, like Boaz, and 
acknowledge the obligation, and perform the 
duties of which it was the token. He would 
stand in the sinner^s place. He would make 
himself an offering in his stead. He would 
come down to earth, and receive a body which 
was prepared for him. He would become a 
man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. 
He would be betrayed into the hands of sin- 
ners, and endure their reproach. He would 
make his soul an offering for their sin, in ex- 
ceeding sorrow even unto death. He would 
endure the cross and despise the shame, for 
the joy that was set before him of redeeming 
to himself a peculiar people, who should be 
holy, and arise in his image, and be to his 
glory. He would go through this mighty un- 
dertaking, and come forth conquering and to 
conquer, having spoiled principalities and 
powers, and triumphed openly over them on 
the cross. He would see a seed, the travail 
of his soul, in whom he should be satisfied. 
He would have a redeemed familv in heaven 



EEDEMPTION PROPOSED. 391 

named by his name, clothed with the gar- 
ments of his salvation, covered with the robe 
of his righteousness, praising the loving-kind- 
ness of the Lord for ever, and dwelling in the 
courts of his glory, in the midst of whom he 
would set up his throne, and over whom he 
would reign in an everlasting kingdom. This 
was the proposal of the Son of God. This 
was the great covenant of redemption which 
he made with the Father and the Holy 
Ghost. It was an everlasting covenant, in all 
things well ordered and sure, and was con- 
firmed and established in the counsels of God 
never to be broken. 

My dear young friends, this was our Ke- 
demption Proposed. I think you may easily 
understand the subject as I have presented it 
to you, though it is the greatest and the 
deepest of all subjects. God the Father loved 
you, and gave his only-begotten Son to die 
for you, that you should not perish, but have 
everlasting life. God the Son loved you, and 
came to take your nature and your burden 



392 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

upon him, that he might ransom you with his 
own precious blood, and redeem you for him- 
self for ever. God the Holy Ghost loved you, 
and became the willing Comforter for you, to 
lead you to a Saviour, to give you a knowl- 
edge of his salvation, and to create your souls 
anew for his eternal glory. Herein is love. 
It is all love, the unsearchable riches of the 
love of God. He is rich in mercy, for this 
great love wherewith he loved us when we 
were dead in sins. 

All this exercise and work of redeeming 
love was in the fullness of his own grace, 
without any connection of yours with it. 
Yes ; just as the proposal of Boaz was with- 
out Ruth's presence or knowledge — made in 
her absence, while she was with her mother 
at home, and not to be made known to her 
until it was completed — so was this great 
proposal of the Son of God to be your Kins- 
man, and to fulfill for you all the Kinsman's 
obligations, made without your counsel and 
accomplished without your help. 



KEDEMPTION PROPOSED. 393 

This is the unsearchable riches of grace. 
We call it sovereign grace. It ruled over 
every obstacle. It met every difficulty. It 
submitted to no restraint. We call it free 
grace. It is extended to sinful man with 
no conditions. It invites him, and offers its 
bounties to him without any qualifications 
whatever. It announces a Redemption all 
complete, and , begs him to receive and to 
enjoy it. It is the wonderful manifestation 
of the love of God, who thus proposed and 
finished every thing in man^s redemption 
by himself. We may think of it, and wonder 
at it, and try to understand its extent and 
its full value, its motives and its reasons 
of choice of man, and of us. But we find 
at last we have always to say with our blessed 
Lord himself, "Even so. Father, for so it 
seemed good in thy sight." Thus God has 
chosen to redeem. And thus he has chosen 
us to be the subjects of his redemption. 

And now Jesus comes to your lowly habit- 
ation to tell you what he has undertaken 
17* 



394 THE RICH KIKSMAX. 

and done for you. He says, '* Behold I 
stand at the door and knock ; if any man 
will open the door, I will come into him, 
and will sup with him, and he with me/' 
"Open to me, my sister, my love, for my 
head is filled with dew, and my locks with 
the drops of the night." Here is the great 
proposal to you. Will you now have this 
Redeemer to be your Redeen;ier ; this Christ 
to be your Christ ; this Saviour and King to 
be your Saviour and King ? He is come 
to make you his own for ever. WiU you 
accept his ofier — agree to be his bride — and 
go in with him to the marriage-supper of the 
Lamb ? He asks no dowry with you. He 
takes you as you are, with all your sin, and 
all your ignorance, and all your poverty, and 
himself enriches you with his own fine gold, 
and covers you with his white raiment. The 
thing which he asks of you is your cheerful, 
grateful acceptance of his rich and free offers ; 
your delighted and cordial entrance into a 
union with him to be his own for ever. K 



KEDEMPTION" PROPOSED. 395 

you will hear his voice and come to him, 
he has life and all things, to be bestowed 
upon you richly and freely of his own grace. 
You shall come behind in no gift. You 
shall be straitened in no supply. He will 
give grace and glory, and no good thing 
will he withhold from you if you are willing 
to lead a godly life. This is the fullness 
of his grace ; his proposal for you ; his pro- 
posal to you. Hesitate not a moment ; and 
do not allow him to plead with you a single 
time in vain. 



XVIII. 

And Boaz said unto the elders, and unto all the people, Ye are wit- 
nesses this dav, that I have hought all that was Elimelech's, and all 
that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, of the hand of Naomi. Moreover, 
Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, have I purchased to be my 
wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the 
name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from 
the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day. And all the people 
that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The 
Lord make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and 
like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel : and do thou 
•worthily in Ephratah and be famous in Beth-lehem: and let thy 
house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, 
of the seed which the Lord shall give thee of this young woman.— 
Burn, iv. 9-12. 

This passage brings to our view the great 
subject of the Gospel revelation,— Redemp- 
tion accomplished in the death and resurrec- 
tion of our Lord Jesus Christ in human flesh, 
for guilty man. We have considered, in our 
last chapter, what the Son of God proposed 
to be and to do for us. This was the divine 



REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. 39T 

plan. The only possible plan ; for sucli a 
plan^ involving so much humiliation and 
sorrow to the pure and holy Son of God, 
surely would not have been adopted could 
any other scheme have availed for man's 
salvation. But when no other offering could 
he sufficient, when there could he salvation 
in no other, and no other name could he 
given among men whereby they might be 
saved, God so loved the world that he gave 
his only-begotten Son, that whosoever be- 
lieved in him might not perish, but have 
everlasting life. God spared not his own Son, 
but delivered him up for us all, that with 
him also he might freely give us all things. 

Boaz took his kinsman's shoe as a simple 
but solemn token of the agreement which he 
had now assumed. He called all the inhabit- 
ants and elders of his city to witness that he 
acknowledged all this responsibility, and was 
pledged to accomplish the redemption which 
was thus described and undertaken. The 
actual accomplishment of the work now de- 



398 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

pcnded upon the ability and the faithfulness 
of Boaz. Could he, and would he do, that 
which he had thus publicly undertaken ? 
Every hope involved in the promised trans- 
action depended on this. He had pledged 
himself to meet all the responsibilities and 
obligations of the case. Every thing now 
rested upon his power and his truth. 

Was it not just so, with the hope of man, 
from the day of his fall, to the day of the 
Saviour's manifestation and victory ? He 
had undertaken to be man's Redeemer. 
" The seed of the woman shall bruise the 
serpent's head," was the first revelation to 
man of this fixed and acknowledged purpose. 
This was the first pledge of human hope — 
the first annunciation that the Son of God 
had taken the shoe of man, and would stand 
in his place and meet the dangers and the 
wants of his lost condition. It was a trans- 
action already completed in heaven. The 
covenant had already been entered into, and 
established there. Angels who could not re- 



REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. 399 

deem, had been the witnesses that the only- 
begotten Son had undertaken to do it. The 
eternal purpose of God, which he purposed in 
Christ Jesus our Lord, was made known unto 
the principalities and powers in heavenly 
places. And he created all things by Jesus 
Christ, that he might make known in the 
Church which he should gather among men, 
the manifold wisdom of God. Kedemption 
was now not only proposed — it was pledged 
and promised. And the pledge and promise 
were revealed to man for whom it was to be 
accomplished. 

But four thousand years rolled by before this 
pledge and promise were fulfilled. The whole 
of the inspired Scriptures of the Old Testament 
are occupied with the description of this prom- 
ised redemption. It makes the subject of 
prophecies, and types, and histories, through 
all these intervening ages. From the first prom- 
ise to Adam and Eve, which told the whole 
fact, in a few comprehensive words, every 
generation of believers rested upon the cer- 



400 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

tainty of this hope, and were encouraged with 
new and additional descriptions of the par- 
ticular facts, which were to make up the parts 
and circumstances of this great redemption. 
You may read through these sacred Scrip- 
tures, and trace the increasing minuteness of 
their predictions of the Saviour's work. He 
was to be the Son of Adam, of Abraham, of 
Jacob, of Judah, of David. He was to appear 
on the earth, to be born in Bethlehem, to be 
a resident of Nazareth, to be homeless and a 
wanderer, to be crucified on Mount Moriah. 
He was to be a man, the Son of a virgin, with- 
out an earthly father — a sufferer and poor, per- 
secuted and rejected, despised by the race and 
nation whose name and nature he assumed, 
and cast out with condemned transgressors to 
die as a degraded and accursed man. He was 
to be unnoticed, without commanding appear- 
ance — meek, gentle, and lowly in his spirit, 
unresisting to evil, and unavenging of crimes 
committed against himself He was to ap- 
pear when Palestine should be a province of 



REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. 401 

the heathen, and Judah should be serving 
under foreign bondage ; to be accused and 
delivered to death by Jews, and yet to suffer 
a death which none but Gentiles inflicted. 
He was to be betrayed by the very persons 
who professed to follow him, and sold for the 
price of a slave, by a man who should break 
bread with him at his table, on the very night 
of his betrayal. He was to come with no mani- 
festation of outward glory, riding once upon 
an ass's colt, his highest human triumph, 
and yet performing the most wonderful mira- 
cles ; speaking in resistless words of authority 
to men and devils and the dumb works of crea- 
tion, rising from the dead in a new life, rais- 
ing others also from the grave, and gathering 
a people in the midst of the utmost contempt 
and persecution, who should appear like the 
waving glory of Lebanon in contrast with a 
handful of barley growing upon the mount- 
ains. Though he should be cast out in death 
with the wicked, the rich would furnish him a 
sepulcher, angels would adorn and honor his 



L._ 



402 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

resurrection, the whole world should be blessed 
in him, and all the nations of the earth should 
call him blessed. He should be a despised 
and undesired man, and yet he was God over 
all, whose throne is for ever and ever. Men 
should themselves put him to death, and yet 
his death should open a fountain of mercy 
and salvation, in which the very men who 
killed him might themselves find pardon and 
life eternal. 

These are a few gathered circumstances- 
of this promised redemption which the un- 
rolling language of divine prophecy made 
known to the sons of men during this inter- 
vening period between the Saviour's assump- 
tion of the covenant to redeem, and his 
fulfillment of the pledge which he had thus 
given. But during all this time, upon 
what did the hope of man rest, save upon 
the power and truth of the Son of God ? 
Could he, and would he fulfill the wonderful 
promises which he had given, and upon 
which he had caused his people to place 



J 



REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. 403 

their trust ? The history of the New Testa- 
ment answers this all-important question. 
These sacred Scriptures reveal the facts of 
redemption accomplished ; the work under- 
taken completely finished ; the fidelity of 
the Kinsman-redeemer gloriously established ; 
and his Almighty power triumphantly made 
known. This is now the great message of 
the Gospel to guilty man. It proclaims 
this accomplished work, and it begs man to 
accept and enjoy the blessings which are 
offered in it freely and without price. Its 
great doctrine is the one great fact of com- 
plete redemption in the death and resurrec- 
tion of the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath thus 
raised up a mighty salvation according to his 
word. " I have blotted out as a thick cloud 
thy transgressions ; return unto me, for I 
have redeemed thee. Sing ye heavens, for 
the Lord hath done it ; shout ye lower parts 
of the earth ; break forth into singing, ye 
mountains, forest, and every tree therein ; 
for the LoKD hath redeemed Jacob, and 



404 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

glorified himself in Israel." This is our great 
doctrine, our glorious message, — complete 
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ, the great 
Goel for man, the Kinsman-redeemer of the 
guilty — perfected by his own merit — and 
ofi'ered freely through his own grace ; in 
which, sins like scarlet and like crimson may 
be made white like snow and wool — the 
nakedness of man may be eternally covered — 
the poverty of man everlastingly enriched — 
and the ruin and weakness of man gloriously 
restored. When the Lord Jesus arose from 
the dead, the redemption of his peojde was 
finished. He was declared to be the Son of 
God with power. A door was opened in 
heaven for lost and guilty man. God could 
justify those who were in themselves ungodly, 
and save those who, in their own condition, 
were wholly condemned. And then, in his 
glorious ascension, the Saviour who had thus 
overcome according to his promise, fulfilled 
the pledge which he had given, and finished 
the work which he had undertaken, sat down 



L. 



REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. 405 

on his throne^ henceforth expecting till his 
enemies be made his footstool. 

Like Boaz, Jesus had bought back the 
whole inheritance for man. All that was lost 
in the first Adam is restored by the second. 
The Kedeemer himself now owns the inherit- 
ance which he has purchased. That which 
was Elimelech's is now the property of Boaz. 
That which was man's, and to be in the 
reward of man's obedience, is now Christ's, 
and only to be had in the freeness and full- 
ness of his gift. It is his own inheritance, 
and he bestows it upon his people according 
to his will ; according to the measure of the 
gift of Christ. We have every thing in him. 
Without him we have nothing. He has 
bought back man also for himself. His 
chosen flock are his purchased possession, and 
are to be to the praise of his glory for ever. 
They are completely redeemed, and shall 
never perish. There is no more condemna- 
tion to those who are in Christ Jesus. All 
things are theirs. They walk not according 



406 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Lei 
by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of 
God. They are the heirs of God, and joint- 
heirs with Christ. They have passed from 
death unto life. And no one can pluck them 
out of their Father's hand. His gracious 
message to them all is, " Fear not, little 
flock ; it is your Father's good pleasure to 
give you the kingdom." 

But the people of Bethlehem were not 
merely the witnesses of this covenant of Boaz. 
They were partakers of his joy. They united 
in their supplications for abundant blessings 
upon the noble and exalted plan which 
Boaz had proclaimed. " The Lord make the 
woman that is come into thine house like 
Rachel and like Leah, which two did build 
the house of Israel ; and do thou worthily 
in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem." 
Well was their grateful prayer fulfilled ; a 
thousand-fold beyond what they could have 
imagined. Had they known the divine pur- 
poses, might they not have exclaimed with 



REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. 407 

Elizabeth^ " Whence is tliisj that the mother 
of our Lord hath come unto us ?'' Kuth was 
to be in the appointed line of the mothers of 
the Lord's Christ. Bethlehem would have 
rung with triumphs of joy around her redemp- 
tion and marriage by her exalted goel, if this 
great fact could have been made known to 
them. 

But angels, the witnesses of the covenant 
of our Eedeemer, were more than silent wit- 
nesses also. When the foundation of this 
wonderful work was laid in the divine cov- 
enant, these morning stars sang together, and 
all the sons of God shouted for joy. When 
the Saviour appeared as a babe in Bethlehem, 
they filled the heavens with their songs of 
praise and prayer. "Glory to God in the 
highest, peace on earth, good will to men.'' 
When he was traveling in the greatness of 
his strength, beneath his load of sorrow 
on the earth, they ministered to him, and 
strengthened him for his work. When he 
had finished his conflict in victory, and was 



408 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

declared a conqueror over all his foes, they 
rolled the stone from his sepulcher, and at- 
tended him in his glorious ascension, shouting 
in the prophetic language of triumph, " Lift 
up your heads, ye gates ; and be ye lifted 
up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of 
glory shall come in ; the Lord of Hosts, even 
the Lord mighty in battle." When sinners 
hear his message, and return repenting, to 
seek their life in him, these heavenly wit- 
nesses rejoice again before the Father's throne. 
The Saviour's little ones they love to pro- 
tect, and are glad to minister to the heirs 
of his salvation. When redeemed saints are 
safely brought to see his glory, they carry 
them home in their arms, surround them in 
an innumerable company, and delight to join 
in and to second their songs of praise. When 
he shall gather in his whole elect they will be 
the Saviour's glorified ministers in that day 
of his power. And when the multitude of his 
redeemed are collected in triumph, and his 
kingdom is brought out in its glory, these 



REDEMPTION ACCOMPLISHED. 409 

heavenly messengers will unite in everlasting 
praise over the complete achievement of his 
promised work. Then will there he a mean- 
ing indeed to " doing worthily in Ephratah, 
and heing famous in Bethlehem." Then will 
the joy of angels he full — the hope of saints 
complete — the ruin of man restored — the cov- 
enant of the Son of God perfected — and God 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost for 
ever glorified in a proposed Eedemption com- 
pletely accomphshed, for sinners who were im- 
poverished and lost under the hurden of inex- 
tricahle guilt. 

My young friends, what a view is this of 
tfo interest which is felt for you by beings 
whom you do not and can not see ! How it 
displays the vast importance and worth of 
this great salvation which is so freely brought 
to you ! How it manifests the strong and 
clear foundation which has been laid for your 
hope, in the power and work of the Lord 
Jesus Christ ! Why should you not always 
rejoice in the happiness of this blessed hope ? 
18 



410 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

Why should you ever hesitate for a moment 
in accepting the full salvation which it pre- 
sents to you ? Your redemption is accom- 
plished, perfectly accomplished. The prison 
doors are open. The captive may go free. 
Arise quickly, the Master calleth thee. You 
have nothing else to do but in simple, affec- 
tionate faith, in the love, and power, and fin- 
ished work of your gracious Kinsman, to em- 
brace his promises, rejoice in the consolation 
which they bring you, and be happy for ever- 
more in his service, and in fellowship with 
him. do it now ! Delay no longer your 
complete agreement to be Christ's for ever. 

" Hasten, sinner, to be vrise, 

Stay not for the morrow's sun ; 
"Wisdom, if yon stiD despise, 
Harder is it to be won. 



Hasten, sinner, to be blest, 
Stay not for the morrow's sun; 

Lest perdition thee arrest, 
Ere the morrow is begun. " 



XIX. 

So Boaz took Euth, and she was his wife : and when he went in unto 
her the Lord gave her conception, and she hare a son. And the 
women said unto Naomi, Blessed be the Lord, which hath not left theo 
this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. 
And he shall be unto thee a restorer of thy life, and a nourisher of 
thine old age : for thy daughter-in-law, which loveth thee, which is 
hotter to thee than seven sons, hath borne him. And Naomi took 
the child, and laid it in her bosom, and became nurse unto it. And 
the women her neighbors gave it a name, saying. There is a son bora 
to Naomi, and they called his name Obed : he is the father of Jesse, 
the father of David.— Euth, iv. 13-17. 

This passage brings out tlie conclusion of 
the beautiful history we have been contem- 
plating. From Kedemption Proposed, Prom- 
ised, and Accomplished, we have now the 
completion of the story in Kedemption actu- 
ally applied. From his interview with the 
other kinsman, and his assumption of the 
pledge to perform the part of goel for Kuth, 
Boaz goes to make her acquainted with the 



412 THE RICU KINSMAN. 

accompHshment of his promise, and to put 
her in possession of the estate and relations 
which he had thus obtained for her. His 
gracious proposal to her results in the eleva- 
tion of the poor gleaner in his fields, to be the 
bride of the lord of the harvest, the glean- 
ings of which had before been such a treasure 
to her. Kuth becomes the wife of Boaz, and 
the mother of a Hne of princes distinguished 
in the exaltation of their day. But what was 
a far greater honor, she is thus, as the ances- 
tor of David, made also the ancestor of that 
great Son of David, to whom it is to be given 
to sit on the throne of his father David, and 
to reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and 
of whose kingdom there shall be no end. 
Kuth is herself thus personally exalted and 
enriched. She has received the blessing from 
the Lord under whose wings she had come to 
trust. Her sorrows and her poverty have 
passed away. The gracious providence of 
God has been vindicated in his deahngs with 
her. Her personal virtue and obedience are 



REDEMPTION APPLIED. 413 

more than recompensed in tlie advantages of 
her new condition. Her affectionate heart is 
gratified in her ability to protect and comfort 
her beloved mother in her age. Her generous 
and grateful spirit is refreshed with abundant 
means of benevolence to others who may be 
poor and dependent as she was before. She 
looks back upon the way through which God 
has led her with unfeigned praise. Every 
view of the distant mountains of Moab will 
awaken new thankfulness for the mercy which 
brought her from the darkness and misery of 
that land of idols. Every gleaner in the har- 
vest-fields of Judah will call her soul to new 
and more humble acknowledgments of thanks- 
giving to him who was so gracious to her 
lonely poverty as a widowed Moabitess. Her 
whole condition shows how truly "light is 
sown for the righteous, and joyful gladness for 
the upright in heart." How "blessed are 
they who have the Lord for their Grod !" 

God graciously gives her a son, over whose 
birth her friends rejoice with a prophetic 



414 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

congratulation. He should not only be per- 
sonally a restorer of the prospects of life to a 
family that was considered dead, and was 
forgotten, and the nourisher of the old age of 
a faithfid widow, who supposed her pleasant 
days had all passed, merged in a cloud of bit- 
terness for her latter end. But his name 
should also be famous in Israel. And famous 
it did become. For but a single generation 
passed beyond him, Ijefore his shepherd 
grandson, the man beloved after God's own 
heart, ascended the throne of Israel, and es- 
tablished a kingdom not only great in itself, 
but giving a name and a type for another 
kingdom to be iiiled by the great offspring of 
David, that shall be of incomparable majesty, 
and shall never pass away. 

Thus the divine ordinance of the Kinsman- 
Eedeemer was completely illustrated in the 
history of Boaz the rich kinsman of Ruth. 
And thus the history unites with the legal 
type, to proclaim to us the fullness, the love, 
the fidelity, and the triumphant work of the 



KEDEMPTION APPLIED. 415 

Lord Jesus Christ, our divine Goel, our great 
Kinsman-Kedeemer, who is, in one person. 
Perfect God and Perfect man — ransoming us 
by his death in the flesh, and reigning over 
us in his everlasting life in glory. 

The whole object of the sacred Scripture is 
the spiritual instruction of the children of 
God through all ages. The ordinances and 
histories of the earlier dispensations were 
types and figures of great truths which are 
openly and freely declared to us in the later 
one. " These things happened unto them for 
ensamples or figures, and they are written 
for our admonition, upon whom the ends of 
the world are come." Each history, and every 
ordinance of the Old Testament has its pe- 
culiar purpose of illustration of permanent 
Gospel truth. It is our privilege to study 
them with this reflected Gospel light. The 
New Testament gives us principles of study 
in many selected illustrations which are there 
brought forth. And we are encouraged to 
pursue a similar study of all the things which 



416 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

were spoken in former ages in parables, but 
whicb are now thus clearly made known to 
us, to whom it has been given to know, in 
the clear intelligence of the Gospel, the mys- 
teries of the Kingdom of God. The word of 
the Lord abideth for ever. 

Thus have I endeavored to carry you 
through the study of Ruth — following that 
which seems to me the plainest line of direc- 
tion in reference to the instruction it is in- 
tended to convey ; and making use of no ex- 
travagance of imagination for the purpose of 
bringing out more secret truths. It is a clear 
and interesting illustration of our great spirit- 
ual Redemption ; redemption from sinful 
wandering, loss, and captive poverty ; re- 
demption which brings us back in a return to 
God in conscious need, and with sincere ac- 
knowledgment of our guilt ; redemption which 
implies, in our appointed Goel, nearness of re- 
lation, tenderness of sympathy, generous will- 
ingness in its exercise, and abundant wealth 
and power to meet the demands which it will 



REDEMPTION APPLIED. 41T 

necessarily make ; redemption which will be 
manifested to its objects in a kind acknowl- 
edgment of them, a complete restoration, an 
aifectionate adoption, a faithful union of their 
interests and hopes with their divine Ke- 
deemer, in an established and abiding ex- 
altation ; redemption which will leave no 
want unsupplied, no danger unguarded, and 
no enemy finally unsubdued. 

This is our Redemption in the glorious Son 
of God. It comes to us as the unspeakable 
gift of God, the superabounding riches of his 
grace. "Blessed be the Lord which hath 
not left us without a kinsman V He might 
have done so, and made us to reap the ways 
of sin in the harvest of eternal death. He 
has not done so, but has sent his own Son in 
the likeness of sinful flesh, to do for us that 
which in the weakness of our flesh, and 
in the helpless poverty of our ruin, we could 
never have done for ourselves. Herein is love, 
the love of God for us. And now he sends us 
the message of his love, the intelligence of all 
18* 



418 THE RICH KiySMAX. 

that he has done for us, and asks us to receive 
the gifts, and to become partakers with him 
of life and everlasting glory. 

The Gospel preaches this Redemption to us 
as complete and finished. It proclaims before 
us its gracious invitation, '* Come, for all things 
are now ready." The Holy Spirit comes to us, 
to apply to us, as our own personal possession, 
the glories which this great Redemption 
brings, and which this Gospel proclaims. He 
fulfills his gracious part of this great covenant, 
in opening our blind eyes, that we may see 
our own need, and the riches of the Saviour's 
glory ; in awakening our dull conscience, that 
we may feel our burden, and acknowledge the 
just condemnation of our guilt ; in subduing 
our proud will, that we may consent to re- 
ceive as a gift of grace that which we can 
never get as a reward of works ; in recalling 
our affections in grateful and delighted choice 
of him for our Friend and Saviour, who has 
proved himself so worthy of our love ; in es- 
tablishing our judgment and determination in 



KEDEMPTION APPLIED. 419 

perfect satisfaction with him, with our union 
with him, and with his service for our obedi- 
ence, whatever it may require ; in strength- 
ening and guiding us, that we may coiltinue 
faithful to him, that we may persevere in fol- 
lowing him, that we may bring forth fruits 
for his glory ; in purifying and preparing us 
in an increasing devotion to our gracious 
Kinsman, for his own presence and everlast- 
ing glory. This is Kedemption applied. 
This is an interesting of us personally in that 
great work of love which the Son of God has 
finished for all who believe in him. And thus 
are we made partakers of everlasting bless- 
ings infinitely better than all that earth can 
give, or the human mind has power to con- 
ceive. 

And now the whole subject comes before 
you, my dear young friends, in the distinct 
offer and invitation of this redeeming mercy 
addressed to yourselves. The Lord Jesus 
Christ, having finished your redemption by 
his death, offers to you the full glories which 



420 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

he has purchased. Just as Boaz came to the 
lowly habitation of Ruth, to lead her to his 
own home, as his chosen and willing bride, 
and to put all that was his m her possession, 
so does the gracious Saviour come to you, 
What is your answer to the Saviour's appeal ? 
How are you ready to receive the offer which 
he makes ? How have you already received 
it ? This sets before you the only relation in 
which you can stand to his redeeming love. 
You must either accept or refuse the offer 
which he makes. You must either comply 
with or reject the invitation which he pre- 
sents. Your acceptance of him in the fuUness 
of his love is your only free choice — the 
simple action of your own heart and vrUl, 
Surely the Holy Spirit leads you and enables 
you for this choice. But the choice is your 
own. Just as free in your experience, and 
just as reaUy under your control, while you 
make it, as any other choice which you make 
in life. Will you then choose your por- 
tion with the Saviour ? Will you cheerfully 



REDEMPTION APPLIED. 421 

and affectionately accept his offered redemp- 
tion, and go from your abode of lonely pov- 
erty, to be with him a partaker of his grace 
and glory ? 

Blessed and happy is such a choice. I 
may truly say in the language of our history, 
it will be a restoration of life, and a nourish- 
ment of your old age. It will furnish the 
happiest enjoyments of earth. It will fill 
your mind with rest, and your soul with 
peace. It will be a spring to you of constant 
joy and blessed hope in your present life. It 
wiU be the source to you of durable riches and 
righteousness for a life to come. Let me en- 
treat you not to withhold the heart which the 
Saviour seeks. Go with him cheerfully, 
thankfully, at once, to be his for ever, and to 
serve him alone, with all the powers of your 
being, and in all the opportunities of duty 
which he sets before you. Let nothing sepa- 
rate you from his love, or withdraw your con- 
fidence in his protection. He will be a friend 
that sticketh closer than a brother. He will 



422 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

never leave you, nor forsake you. He will 
cheer your hours of trial, console your days 
of darkness, encourage you in your con- 
flicts with sin, refresh you in your weari- 
ness under your hurdens, and make you 
more than conquerors in his love. 

You will look back over the way in which he 
has led you with increasing gratitude. And 
as you call to mind the darkness of your 
native Moab — the poverty of your souFs con- 
dition in unpardoned sin — the gracious way 
in which Jesus welcomed your first approach 
to him — the rich rewards which he has given 
to your faith — the comforts and hopes which 
he has made to abound toward you — the 
blessed anticipations and promises which he 
has spread before you, your soul will every day 
rejoice the more in your portion, and joy in 
the Kock of your Salvation. Like Kuth's 
royal descendant, you will many a time go 
to bow down before the Lord, and say, ^' Who 
am I, Lord God ? And what is my house 
that thou hast brought me hitherto ? And 



REDEMPTION APPLIED. 423 

this was yet a small thing in thy sight^ 
Lord God ; but thou hast spoken of thy 
servant's house for a great while to come. 
And is this the manner of man, Lord God ? 
And what can David say more unto thee ? 
For thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant." 
Happy is every retrospect, and happier every 
anticipation, in a life sincerely devoted to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. Happier daily as it draws 
to the close of its probation. Happiest of 
all, when in its closing hour you can con- 
fidently say, "He hath made with me an 
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things 
and sure ; for this is all my salvation and all 
my desire." 

And may I not now say with truth, happy 
shall we both be, if by this contemplation of 
Euth and her Kich Kinsman, any of my 
youthful readers shall be truly led by the 
Holy Spirit to say, "Lord, with thee only 
will we go, for thou hast the words of 
Eternal Life ?'' " Let us be glad and re- 
joice, and give honor to him ; for the mar- 



424 THE RICH KINSMAN. 

riage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath 
made herself ready. And to her it was 
granted that she should be arrayed in fine 
linen, clean and white ; for the fine linen 
is the righteousness of the saints. Blessed 
are they which are called unto the marriage- 
supper of the Lamb." Thus will he that 
soweth and they who reap rejoice together. 
In our Father's kingdom we shall see the full 
glories of our glorious Kinsman, and the 
unspeakable riches of liis inheritance in his 
saints. TVe shall be taught the new song 
of his redeemed. We shall rejoice in the 
eyeriasting possession of durable riches and 
righteousness. We shall look back from 
eternity with constant thanksgiying oyer the 
way in which he led us to find our shelter 
and our portion in his j^resence. And our 
eternal song will be, '' Worthy is the Lamb 
that was slain, to receiye power and riches, 
and wisdom and strength, and honor and 
glory, and blessing ; for he was slain, and has 
redeemed us to God by his blood out of eyery 



KEDEMPTION APPLIED. 425 

kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. 
Blessing and honor and glory and power be 
unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and 
unto the Lamb for ever and ever." 



THE END 



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